'Deadly germs secure in stores in the ex-USSR'
Deadly germs and bacteria have been stockpiled in unsecured warehouses in the former Soviet Union, warned a biological weapons expert.
The strains were developed for biological warfare research and are ‘‘very virulent’’, Sonia Ben Ouagtham said.
But they are now kept in unlocked buildings and are not ‘‘totally protected’’, the expert from the Monterey Institute of International Studies warned.
They could pose a risk to untrained workers or be tampered with by intruders and could be ‘‘a very high threat’’, she said.
‘‘Many institutes in the former Soviet Union have important collections ofpathogens, virulent pathogens,’’ Ms Ben Ouagtham said.
‘‘Some of them are located in simple buildings with wooden doors that are not secured, they are kept in simple fridges, with sometimes a wax seal that can be tampered with very easily.’’
‘‘The strains collections are still not totally protected.’’
She said some of the strains involved were unique and did not exist in the West, adding: ‘‘These strains have been developed for biological warfare, they are very virulent.’’
Ms Ouagtham has recently returned from a two-year research trip to Kazakhstan, where she studied the conversion of biological weapons facilities in the former Soviet republic.
She said workers in the Soviet Union had worked with the deadly materials under tight operating procedures.
But ‘‘a new generation of employees who never worked in the Soviet time... may not implement the Soviets’ operating procedures,’’ she said.
‘‘In that case the lack of physical protection can be very high threat.’’
