Citation

Szeto AL, Rollwagen F, Jonas WB. Homeopathy 2004; 93(4): 173-178.

Affiliation

Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, MD, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15532694

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the literature on the ability of low-dose (LD) and ultra-low-dose (ULD) toxin exposure to prevent and treat biological and chemical threats. METHODS: Laboratory research articles on protection or treatment from LD or ULD exposure for the 13 high-risk chemical and biological warfare threats were collected and systematically evaluated for quantity and scientific quality using pre-defined methodological criteria. RESULTS: Over 2600 articles were screened. Only five studies met the inclusion criteria examining stimulation and protective effects of LD- or ULD-exposures to the 13 pre-identified biological and chemical agents. The quality evaluation (QE) of these studies was above average with a mean QE score of 70.6% of maximum. Two articles of fair to good quality reported both protective and treatment efficacy from exposure of animals or humans to LD- and ULD-exposures to toxins of risk in biochemical warfare. CONCLUSION: There is little research on agents of biological and chemical warfare investigating the possible use of LD- and ULD-toxins for protection and treatment. The existing literature is generally of good quality and indicates that rapid induction of protective tolerance is a feasible but under-investigated approach to bioterrorist or biowarfare defense. In our opinion, further research into the role of induced protection with LD- and ULD-toxic agents is needed.

Language: en