Pathogens for War: Biological Weapons, Canadian Life Scientists, and North American Biodefence

‘Professor Donald Avery has written the most definitive available history of the Canadian biological warfare program.’ John Ellis van Courtland Moon, Bulletin of the History of Medicine vol 88:02:2014

‘A welcome addition to a burgeoning and increasingly sophisticated field of study… Donald Avery’s book offers new insights into a largely neglected aspect of Canada’s military and bio-defence history in the twentieth century which will be of great value to research scientists, humanities scholars, and bioethicists worldwide.’ Ulf Schmidt, Social History of Medicine, vol 27:04:2014

“Pathogens for War is a high quality, complete historical survey of Canada’s involvement in biological weapons research from its emergence just before the Second World War to the present day. Very nicely contextualized to provide a sense of how Canadian biological weapons–related activities connected to contemporary events, it also provides fresh insight into the delicate balancing of relations with other nations such as the US and Great Britain. Donald Avery makes full use of an unprecedented access to previously classified material to bring out engagingly the enduring tensions of pursuing secret science in a democracy.”

Brian Balmer, Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College London

“Pathogens for War is a significant contribution to the field – there is no similar book that places the threats and responses to  biological warfare, bioterrorism, and pandemics within a Canadian national context in existence. I am impressed by how Donald Avery brings together different strands of biological threat  issues, blending detail and context and linking them together holistically for the reader. I expect to find this book in every university library, and it should sit on the shelves of those interested in health emergency management and of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear terrorism experts.”

Jez Littlewood, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University