“The message contained in this publication is clear: countries need a public health system that can respond to the deliberate release of chemical and biological agents. Regrettable though this message may be, the use of poison gas in the war between Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the 1980s, the recent anthrax incidents in the United States, and the attack with sarin nerve agent, six years earlier, on the Tokyo underground, illustrate why it is necessary to prepare.
Recognizing this need, the Fifty-fifth World Health Assembly in May 2002 adopted resolution WHA55.16 calling on Member States to “treat any deliberate use, including local, of biological and chemical agents and radionuclear attack to cause harm also as a global public health threat, and to respond to such a threat in other countries by sharing expertise, supplies and resources in order rapidly to contain the event and mitigate its effects.” This is but the first step. The need has been identified.What is now required are national and international procedures to meet it, suitably resourced. This manual describes these procedures.”
