The potential for creating and using biological weapons to wreak havoc is an urgent concern not just in America, but worldwide. In fact, many security experts believe that the next act of widespread terrorism will likely come from a weapon of biochemical means.

In Anthrax: Bioterror as Fact and Fantasy, Philipp Sarasin explores the real threats of biological weapons--in contrast to the idea of biological substances as nebulous agents of terror--by analyzing the famous anthrax scares that occurred in the United States in 2001. Basing his analysis on government documents and media coverage between the events of September 11, 2001, and the beginning of the Iraq War in March 2003, he shows that the anthrax letters became the necessary fantasy-link between the 9/11 attacks and Saddam Hussein's "weapons of mass destruction." While many bioterrorism experts agree that it would be difficult to use anthrax effectively as a weapon in a large-scale attack, the anthrax scares that occurred in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks amplified the American public's fear and uncertainty about what might come next. In effect, these incidents infected the American psyche and created an increased sense of vulnerability that shaped the public's understanding of the War on Terror.

Sarasin, in offering a European's view of the U.S. reaction to the anthrax scare, argues that while threats of bioterrorism are real, they are disproportionate to the fantasmal fears and illusions that now permeate American politics and culture. In short, fear of bioterror has contaminated modern American life.

Biosecurity Dilemmas examines conflicting values and interests in the practice of “biosecurity,” the safeguarding of populations against infectious diseases through security policies. Biosecurity encompasses both the natural occurrence of deadly disease outbreaks and the use of biological weapons. Christian Enemark focuses on six dreaded diseases that governments and international organizations give high priority for research, regulation, surveillance, and rapid response: pandemic influenza, drug-resistant tuberculosis, smallpox, Ebola, plague, and anthrax. The book is organized around four ethical dilemmas that arise when fear causes these diseases to be framed in terms of national or international security: protect or proliferate, secure or stifle, remedy or overkill, and attention or neglect. For instance, will prioritizing research into defending against a rare event such as a bioterrorist attack divert funds away from research into commonly occurring diseases? Or will securitizing a particular disease actually stifle research progress owing to security classification measures? Enemark provides a comprehensive analysis of the ethics of securitizing disease and explores ideas and policy recommendations about biological arms control, global health security, and public health ethics.