In order to kill someone with a poison, the poison has to at least touch that person, and many poisons need much more than skin contact to be lethal: they have to be ingested, injected, or inhaled. Explosions tend to expand rapidly. Chemicals, however, tend to sit in one place; you need a way to disperse it. Yes, a handful of botulinium toxin could theoretically kill every human on the planet, but you’d never be able to get it inside every person on the planet.
In other words, [citation needed].
On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if one could kill more people with a few vials of smallpox virus than with a single nuclear weapon...
I agree, what you’re referring to is very nasty stuff, and yes, you could easily kill a lot of people with it. You’ll still have trouble wiping out an area larger than a stadium with it, though. (It’s certainly possible to do though, if you have enough resources. Maybe something involving crop dusting planes, I dunno.)
On the bright side, anyone plotting to use that particular agent to kill people with is probably going to end up killing themselves with it before they manage to get anyone else.
In order to kill someone with a poison, the poison has to at least touch that person, and many poisons need much more than skin contact to be lethal: they have to be ingested, injected, or inhaled. Explosions tend to expand rapidly. Chemicals, however, tend to sit in one place; you need a way to disperse it. Yes, a handful of botulinium toxin could theoretically kill every human on the planet, but you’d never be able to get it inside every person on the planet.
In other words, [citation needed].
On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if one could kill more people with a few vials of smallpox virus than with a single nuclear weapon...
209-805-3
I agree, what you’re referring to is very nasty stuff, and yes, you could easily kill a lot of people with it. You’ll still have trouble wiping out an area larger than a stadium with it, though. (It’s certainly possible to do though, if you have enough resources. Maybe something involving crop dusting planes, I dunno.)
On the bright side, anyone plotting to use that particular agent to kill people with is probably going to end up killing themselves with it before they manage to get anyone else.
Just for fun: “A Tall Tail” by Charles Stross