Assault weapons as a public health hazard in the United States

Article Abstract:

Assault weapons refers to firearms that are capable of automatic or semi-automatic fire, and are usually shot from the hip. The Bureau of Alcohol ,Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) estimates that there are one to three million assault weapons in the US. The percentage of crimes that involve assault weapons is unknown, but an examination of 42,758 gun traces requested by police found that assault weapons were involved in 12.4% of traces related to narcotics crimes and 30% of those related to organized crime. It is estimated that eight percent of all firearm homicides in the US involve assault weapons. Injuries from assault weapons resemble those that occurred during the Vietnam war, and are expensive to treat. Many of the victims are uninsured and, consequently, the public pays the price. The American Medical Association (AMA) urges hospital emergency rooms to monitor the medical cost of assault weapons. The AMA will continue to support legislation to regulate the manufacture and sale of assault weapons.

Social aspects, Political activity, Firearms, American Medical Association, Assault rifles

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Iraq's biological weapons: the past as future?

Article Abstract:

There is evidence that Iraq still has the capability of using biological weapons. The Iraqi biological weapons program began in 1985 and continued up until the cease-fire resulting from the Persian Gulf War in April, 1991. At that time, Iraq was ordered by the United Nations Security Council to destroy all biological weapons. However, in 1996, officials from the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) were unable to verify that Iraq had actually done this. Iraq had developed biological weapons based on anthrax, botulism, aflatoxin, ricin, gas gangrene and the fungal tricothecenes, which are also known as 'yellow rain'.

Military aspects, Biological weapons, Iraq

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