"Disease has long been the deadliest enemy of mankind," says George Bush, "...we have fought the causes and consequences of disease throughout history and must continue to do so with every available means (qtd. in "Defending against bioterrorism" n. pg.)." In light of the recent anthrax attacks, bioterrorism is a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States. While vaccine stockpiles, radiation treatment, and research seem to be the more appealing solutions to this atrocity, the public education and awareness to report possible biological outbreaks is a basic and less expensive area in which could be one of the most effective and long term solutions which is very much overlooked. While each solution has its advantages, the cooperation of the Bush Administration, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with other organizations, would ensure that each solution would not be overlooked and that each would be carried out effectively.
             One of the most known solutions, vaccine stockpiling, is actually not as good as it seems because it is expensive and the only time it would actually see use is if an attack occurred. If a widespread outbreak were to occur, the neccesary amount of vaccines would not be available. Vaccines are definently necessary, but wasting money stockpiling them is not. The money invested could be put to better use as there are clearly other effective solutions.
             While proven to be extremely effective, the radiation treatment in post offices is limited to the mail system only. It would be unlikely that another biological attack would occur via mail after the recent anthrax scare following Septmeber 11th. The devices used in post offices shoot high energy beams of radiation through the letters. ("Irradiation" n. pag.). Irradiation kills anthrax by shattering it's DNA and other cellular components (n.pag.). The process for ...