Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World--Told from the Inside by the Man

by Ken Alibek and Stephen Handelman

Book Overview

"Read and be amazed. . . . An important and fascinating look into a terrifying world of which we were blissfully unaware."--Robin Cook, author of Contagion

Anthrax. Smallpox. Incurable and horrifying Ebola-related fevers. For two decades, while a fearful world prepared for nuclear winter, an elite team of Russian bioweaponeers began to till a new killing field: a bleak tract sown with powerful seeds of mass destruction--by doctors...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385334966
• ISBN13: 9780385334969
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Delta
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Riveting, informative, and understandable

Very well-written in plain language thanks to Steve Handelman, this is a quick read. It is educational without being pedantic, and covers a well-balanced gamut of subjects, including:- the history of Soviet bio-weaponeering: the vast resources they (including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mikhail Gorbachev) put into developing biological weapons in direct violation of the 1972 treaty and hiding it from the rest of the world, as well as from their own people;- the evolution of pathogen manufacturing processes;- the morality and justification (or lack thereof) of such weapons;- interesting details about various pathogens and the diseases they cause;- the dismal outlook for biodefense (sorry), with informative discussion of the shortcomings of vaccines, as well as the most promising possibilities;- Alibek's personal involvement and ascension through the Soviet military and scientific community, and the internal power struggles that hampered the Soviet regime; and- the truth --finally-- about the 1979 anthrax outbreak at Sverdlovsk, its exact cause, the elaborate KGB attempts at a cover up, and simple, common sense refutations of the "contaminated meat" story proffered by the Soviet oligarchy. The book tells how a well-meaning Boris Yeltsin (who was then the Communist party boss of Sverdlovsk) inadvertently worsened the epidemic by ordering an inexpert clean-up.Straightforward explanations are given of viruses, the human immune system, cellular biology, and related topics. In the style of that most excellent author Jon Krakauer, this book occasionally makes a fascinating historical flashback; for instance, there are quick side bars on Edward Jenner and the history of immunology.There are also some somber, one-sentence paragraphs that have the enormous weight of a British understatement. These gave me pause.Names of people and places are given freely, and the book includes a good index. I learned a lot and feel thankful for every healthy day. The amazing thing is how little harm has been done considering what's possible! :-)

Riveting, informative, and understandable

Very well-written in plain language thanks to Steve Handelman, this is a quick read. It is educational without being pedantic, and covers a well-balanced gamut of subjects, including: - the history of Soviet bio-weaponeering: the vast resources they (including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mikhail Gorbachev) put into developing biological weapons in direct violation of the 1972 treaty and hiding it from the rest of the world, as well as from their own people; - the evolution of pathogen manufacturing processes; - the morality and justification (or lack thereof) of such weapons; - interesting details about various pathogens and the diseases they cause; - the dismal outlook for biodefense (sorry), with informative discussion of the shortcomings of vaccines, as well as the most promising possibilities; - Alibek's personal involvement and ascension through the Soviet military and scientific community, and the internal power struggles that hampered the Soviet regime; and - the truth --finally-- about the 1979 anthrax outbreak at Sverdlovsk, its exact cause, the elaborate KGB attempts at a cover up, and simple, common sense refutations of the "contaminated meat" story proffered by the Soviet oligarchy. The book tells how a well-meaning Boris Yeltsin (who was then the Communist party boss of Sverdlovsk) inadvertently worsened the epidemic by ordering an inexpert clean-up. Straightforward explanations are given of viruses, the human immune system, cellular biology, and related topics. In the style of that most excellent author Jon Krakauer, this book occasionally makes a fascinating historical flashback; for instance, there are quick side bars on Edward Jenner and the history of immunology. There are also some somber, one-sentence paragraphs with the enormous weight of a British understatement. These gave me pause. Names of people and places are given freely, and the book includes a good index. I learned a lot and feel thankful for every healthy day. The amazing thing is how little harm has been done considering what's possible! :-)

Great book!

This book was a joy to read! The book was informative, easy to read, factual, and accurate (I worked in the field). The author is to be commended for writing such a daring book....naming people, places, things, timing, etc. It was a candid, "from-the-heart" book. Nice job!

Hell Revisited...

As this review is written, in October 2002, it is well to remember that Ken Alibeck first brought his revelations of the massive Soviet (and now, Russian Federation) bioweapon production to the public in his book BIOHAZARD more than two years ago. His defection to the U.S. occurred almost four years earlier. And yet, as I travel the country to promote my own book --a fiction bioterrorist assault on the U.S. that threatens humanity itself-- I'm dumbfounded to discover that the majority of my audiences have no idea of who Ken is. Worse, they have no conception of the horrors that he, as deputy director of Biopreparat/Vector, the massive organization the Soviet Union created to develop and mass-produce lethal viruses and other bioagents BY THE METRIC TON, has visited on today's world. Today we live with the very real threat of a worldwide pandemic of smallpox --a disease officially eradicated in nature three decades ago-- that could be sparked by any number of rogue nations or their terrorist clients who possess the weaponized form of smallpox that Biopreparat/Vector produced. And because that hideous form of variola virus is likely to have been genetically modified, it is entirely possible that existing smallpox vaccines (such as that being recommended for mass immunization in the U.S., Israel, Australia and elsewhere) simply will not work against it. While I was researching my novel of bioterrorism, Final Epidemic, I met many experts in the field of national security, medicine and government. In private conversations, those who consented to be interviewed all agreed on one point: a staggering volume of bioweapons exist today, and could be released upon mankind at any time by a ruthless ideologue... or a madman. But almost as many agreed on a second point, too: the majority of these weapons are likely to have come from Russian stocks, or to have been newly manufactured by Russian scientists formerly employed by Vector and recruited by nations such as Iraq, Iran, Syria and North Korea. BIOHAZARD is the basic primer for how this all began, as well as a detailed indictment of those in Russia who coldly ignored both international treaties and simple respect for life in their quest for the single-cell killing machines they created. Today, even two years after its initial publication, it remains a horrifying chronicle of cold-blooded preparation for mass murder. By all accounts, Ken Alibeck himself is a charming individual, highly intelligent and possessed of an eloquent manner. Without doubt he is a gifted scientist, as evidenced by his own personal lead role in developing a particularly lethal and persistent variety of anthrax which is still a prized part of the Russian bio-arsenal. Alibeck is reported also to be a man of conscience, as evidenced by his disillusionment and ultimate defection. Would that his crisis of conscience had come far earlier, or at least had been shared by more of his Vector colleagues. Humanity would have been far safer that

Gripping and spine-chilling!

If you read one book about biohazards/bioterrorism, make it this book! Dr Alibek does a superb job of presenting the terrifying facts concerning the extent of biological weapons of mass destruction that have been developed and are currently available to anyone looking for such a weapon. If you think stockpiling vaccines, vaccinating the military against specific agents, and/or there is no threat to the US from these weapons, you really need to digest the info provided here by an author "in the know". To make these facts even more frightening, think about this... I'm sure there are some things Dr Alibek could not include in this account as they are considered classified information. As Dr Alibek clearly shows, the R & D didn't stop just because the USSR collapsed. What horrors have been engineered and perfected since his defection in 1992? When one thinks about it, the world was probably safer before the Soviet collapse. At least there were massive safeguards in place to provide ultimate secrecy to this program and to keep the organisms in check in case of accidents. Now, there measures have dissolved with the Soviet state..... who is controlling/maintaining these bioweapons? Dr Alibek makes you think about these very hard questions.It is also very interesting to realize that both Yeltsin and Gorbachev were deeply involve in propogating these weapons under the guise of countermeasures/vacine development. All this was done with total disregard to the 1972 Bioweapon Treaty signed by the USSR. This certainly gives a new meaning to Peristroika! It is not easy to like or even accept the choices the author made in his life. He is quite frank in how he came to his decisions and the realizes the abhorrent results of his decisions. He apologizes for none of his work which is understandable considering the mindset of the Cold War mentality of a Soviet official in his position. It is amazing to read the extent to which Soviet leaders went to elude Western detection and keep their own reseachers "propagandized" against the West in order to perpetuate this deadly research. I applaude Dr Alibek's candor in stating his involvement and forthright reasons for participation in this research even I am totally opposed to such work. The past is done...Dr Alibek has shown tremendous courage in writing this very readable account that warns the world of what is out there and is a very real threat to all living thing. But, be forewarned... you may find the information presented here extremely disconcerting, creating more questions in your mind than the book has answered! This is a must read for everyone, but most especially for our civilian/military leaders!