deadly

[fujita san]

what is the deadliest weapon accessable

[Shorin Ryuu]

Hmm...you're going to have to put it more into context. Define what you mean by access.

I know someone is just itching to say "your mind/brain". It never fails. Maybe I can shame them into not saying it, but I doubt it.

[Martial_Artist]

Your mind.

[CloudDragon]

Minuteman missle.

Well it is! I guess that is a little unaccesible.

I would say any weapon in the hands, empty or not, of a skilled practicioner.

For example: if you have a gun, but can't figure out how to take off the safety, you have an expensive club. Therefore, you would be dead meat facing a bojutsuist with a broken broomhandle.

[Mr. Mike]

Botulinum toxin, the most poisonous substance known, is about 100,000 times deadlier than the neurotoxin Sarin, which was used in an attack on Tokyo subways in 1995 that killed 10 and sent 5,000 people streaming into hospitals. During the Gulf War in 1991, Iraq reportedly stockpiled thousands of liters of the botulinum toxin and funneled some into bombs.

When botulism strikes, it strikes hard. The toxin destroys the nerves that enable people to breathe and swallow. Until the nerves regenerate, which takes weeks or months, paralysis sets in. Without ventilators and mechanical life support, victims virtually always die.

Botulinum toxin's availability and lethality make it a potentially fearsome weapon. It is difficult to defend against on the battlefield or in the hands of urban bioterrorists, who wouldn't have to kill millions or even thousands to have a considerable impact.

"With the simplest of lab equipment, for $1,000, you could make enough toxin to kill hundreds of people."

If a bioterrorist were to release a cloud of botulinum in a major city, 50,000 people would get sick, and 30,000 of them would die without antitoxin treatment, according to a report released this year by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, a think-tank financed partly by Congress.

Because 80% to 90% of the beds in any intensive care unit in any given city are usually full — and because most cities have just a few hundred intensive care beds — fewer than 100 cases of botulism could lock up every intensive care ward in a city like San Francisco for weeks, says James Marks of the University of California-San Francisco, an author of the report.

Quick access to antitoxin would shorten the course of the illness. If a bioterrorist were to release a cloud of botulinum toxin in a big city, antitoxin could save about half of the lives that would be lost.

But antitoxin is in perilously short supply. After the Gulf War, the Army stockpiled 5,000 doses of finished antitoxin from its herd of horses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stored some of what remains in freezers, but officials will not disclose exactly how much they have on hand. The Army put 45,000 unprocessed doses into the deep freeze.

In 1999, the Army abandoned the program and donated 53 horses to the Air Force Academy stables. Some were auctioned or sold, stable manager Billy Jack Barrett says; others are kept at the stables for cadets and others to ride.

The story of the Army's botulinum antitoxin program provides a compelling example of the nation's once-ambivalent commitment to biodefense, experts say.

just food for thought. And the $1000 pricetag makes it rather accessible...more so than a year's worth of MA training.

info taken from USA Today's website. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-09-25-botulism-1acover_x.htm

Good day.

[cheeks]

the most deadliest weapon ever...is the one you can actually use, like clouddragon said, it is no point in having an expensive weapon like a gun,knive, or sword, if you cant use it.....

[Martial_Artist]

guns and knives and swords are relatively cheap. a pocket knife can run from under $5 - around $100. A Paul Chen katana runs under $200. And depending on caliber a handgun runs from under $200 to around a $1000. Shotguns can run from under $100 to around $1000 and every price level in between.

So, buying a gun, knife, or sword isn't relative to price, but to your knowledge of using it.

[Jay]

knowledge is the dedliest