A fourth cruise ship has experienced an outbreak of the Norwalk virus, sickening 117 passengers and crew. It seems that these recent outbreaks are more than could be explained by mere coincidence, and the word "terrorism" is being bandied about.
Certainly there’d be little reason for a group like al-Qaeda to infect cruise ships with a virus that is more annoying than life threatening, so if this were to be a deliberate biological attack, who would be behind it?
Who would have a grudge against the cruise ship industry because of charges that their ships are polluting tropical seas? Who would be willing to sicken but not kill as many people as possible? Who would have an interest in seeing these companies go out of business?
If this is an intentional act, the most likely culprit would be ecoterrorists. A Norwalk-like virus would be non-fatal, highly contagious, and difficult to get rid of on a ship. It would also generate a lot of negative publicity and severely hurt the cruise industry. I couldn’t speculate on what groups would be responsible for such an action, but given the highly suspicious nature of these outbreaks, I think the possibility of ecoterrorism is one that can no longer be ignored.
