The Unknown About Entomological Warfare in History

For centuries, insects have been used as biological weapons to spread disease and destroy crops. They have even been used as actual offensive weapons. Take a look back at this history of entomological warfare.

The term 'biological warfare' often brings to mind bacteria, viruses, toxins and other living agents that can affect humans. But in fact, the use of insects is also a type of biological warfare .

In entomological warfare, insects can harm the enemy in many ways: as crop pests, disease carriers, and as offensive weapons .

Thousands of years ago, perhaps as early as 198, during the Second Roman-Parthian War, King Barsamia threw scorpion-filled jars to repel the Romans, defending the city of Hatra. These beetles, from the genus Paederus, contain a compound called pederin , which causes dermatitis and blistering when it comes into contact with the skin.

Later, King Mithridates VI of Pontus ordered honey from bees foraging for rhododendrons to be placed along the roads. Roman soldiers who consumed this honey became sick and suffered hallucinations. They called it 'mad honey'.

The plague killed millions of people in the 14th and 15th centuries. It is believed that when the Mongol Tartars besieged the city of Kaffa (now Fedosia), they threw plague-infected corpses over the walls, thereby spreading the disease to Europe.

During World War II, Unit 731 was Japan's secret biological weapons research and development facility. Researchers built a bomb filled with plague-infected fleas and dropped it in China for testing.

As for Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night, the Japanese planned to release plague-infected fleas into certain areas of California. Fortunately, Japan surrendered two weeks before the planned date of action.

Also during World War II, the Nazis believed that the Americans would use the Colorado potato beetle to destroy German crops, so they began breeding and researching attack plans, then testing them in the fields of Speyer, Germany.

As it turned out, Germany's concerns were well-founded. In 1942, the United States sent 15,000 beetles to the United Kingdom for study as a biological weapon.

The US Operation Big Buzz took place in 1955, simulating a mosquito attack. Hundreds of thousands of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (also known as yellow fever mosquitoes) were released into an area in the state of Georgia.

According to a 1981 US Army report, it took about 225,000 infected mosquitoes to attack a battalion. But the cost was quite high, about $27,000 (equivalent to $132,000 in today's money).

In 1989, an outbreak of Mediterranean fly in California caused millions of dollars in damage and several eradication programs were implemented.

In December 1989, several California politicians and media outlets received letters from a group called 'The Breeders', claiming responsibility for an outbreak of Mediterranean flies, in retaliation for aerial spraying of the insecticide Malathion in the state. By March 1990, the state had discontinued its aerial spraying program of Malathion and was instead introducing sterilized Mediterranean flies to control the population.

In 1990, the Bush administration had the idea of ​​releasing millions of coca-eating caterpillars into coca fields in Bolivia and Peru as part of its war on drugs. Both Bolivia and Colombia rejected the idea because it would damage the local ecosystem.