Saying No To Power

I realized the other day that I have essentially been making “yellow rain” in the lab lately. When I say yellow rain, I am not talking about urine or anything even remotely similar to any natural bodily function, or bodily byproducts. I mean yellow rain as in the biological weapon.

For those of you who didn’t pay attention in history class, “yellow rain” is in reality a trichothecene mycotoxin, T-2, produced by various types of mold, which has been linked to incidents in Vietnam and Cambodia in the 70s. It was said to cause blindness, bleeding, neurological symptoms and death in those subjected to it, and eyewitnesses claimed it had been released from low-flying aircrafts as a yellow oily substance, hence the name: yellow rain. Now, this was never really proved to be an actual weapon, as many doubt the witnesses and many claim it was a result of swarms of bees dropping pollen with the toxin present…Either way it was tested to contain the toxin and the symptoms are similar to known cases of T-2 toxin ingestion…which you can imagine is pretty bad no matter who or what caused it.

I guess I haven’t really been making true “yellow rain” as the mold I use contain more toxins than just the T-2 one…which come to think of it, could be even worse than yellow rain. The mold Im working on is one of the most toxic ones we know of, and yet not much is known of its affect on people…or other living things. But it frightens me how easy it is. Sure you need certain machines most people don’t have access to…and chemicals which isn’t super easy to acquire…but where there is a will, there probably is a way too.

I personally feel a certain sense of awe towards the organisms I am working with. Knowing that something as seemingly simple as a fungus can give a child pulmonary hemorrhage and even cause death, or make an adult chronically sick…and knowing how easy it is to take this organism and turn it into something as horrifying as a weapon. It makes me wonder what causes people to actually do it. Just because I know how to do it, doesn’t mean I would ever even consider doing it! What makes some people think differently? It is strange how you can so easily find yourself in a position where you can do something terribly wrong, yet good to know I would never even think of it. But I wonder what makes some people do the opposite of good. What trigger factor is needed for someone in the same position to actually cross the line? I am not sure I want to know.

You can take someone like Alfred Nobel for instance. A chemist and engineer who invented dynamite, thinking this would “end all wars”. He probably thought he was doing something good when in fact he invented something capable of killing more people in a much shorter time than ever seen before. But was he a bad man? Was he really aware of what he was doing? It is hard to imagine anything else today, but go back a hundred years…? I guess he realized his grand mistake before his death, creating the Nobel Peace Prize (in addition to some other prizes), but the damage was already done.

I for one think I will go about this as something I need to do in order to finish my work. –Which may have been the standard excuse used throughout the history of time, but I know myself well enough to know that I have a goldfish memory about things I do not wish to remember. And this procedure is on its way out of my head already.

Toxins? Yellow rain? What the hell is that?
Im just another dumb blonde.