Not so long ago, scientists worked towards eradicating viruses and plagues -- seeking to prolong and protect human life. Today, scientists are stockpiling viruses for military use. And, even more terrifying, they have developed new plagues and super-viruses that are resilient to treatment. Ostensibly for defense purposes, these weapons put civilians at risk.

Among this book's revelations is information about the Soviet government's successful development of a combination of smallpox and Ebola. Wendy Barnaby also discusses how the U.S. and South Africa have separately funded biological weapons research targeting specific ethnic groups. Barnaby uncovers startling evidence that scientists and politicians are complacent about the threats that biological weapons pose. Wantonly flouting international safeguards, laboratories around the world continue to endanger the human population.

With the breakdown of the former Soviet Union and the unhalted growth of Iraq's germ warfare program, biological weapons are increasingly available to organizations hostile to the West. The sarin nerve gas attack by Japan's Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult in 1995 was a comparatively contained example of biological weaponry's deadly potential.

Barnaby's accessible and sobering assessment of biological warfare will stimulate a much-needed dialogue between governments and the public they are putting at risk.