Biological weapons can now be assembled for a few thousand dollars

Evidence

Biological weapons weren’t very expensive to begin with, and in recent years their price has plummeted. Today, it’s possible to assemble perfect copies of the world’s most dangerous diseases—pathogens such as the 1918 strain of avian influenza, responsible for roughly one hundred million deaths—in a simple basement laboratory for a few thousand dollars. If anybody can make these weapons, then anybody can use them, and this throws the essential logic of deterrence out the window. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 604

Categorization

• QUESTION: Is the ‘few thousand dollars / basement lab’ figure still current and accurate? Worth chasing the sourcing.
• SEED: Article angle: democratization of mass-casualty capability and what it means for deterrence theory.
• XREF: connects to: Low-cost bioweapons manufacture destroys the logic of deterrence; Cheap weapons can disable the most expensive military technologies — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 417

Related

• Low-cost bioweapons manufacture destroys the logic of deterrence (similarity 0.92)
• Cheap weapons can disable the most expensive military technologies (similarity 0.80)
• Modern nuclear and biological weapons are destructively unprecedented in history (similarity 0.80)
• Costly advanced weapons deter rivals just like large animal weapons (similarity 0.80)
• Nuclear weapons grew cheaper as they proliferated, undermining deterrence (similarity 0.79)
• Cheap weapons of mass destruction will erode expensive conventional forces (similarity 0.79)
• Cheap asymmetric weapons can topple vastly more expensive military investments. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Cheap weapons can disable the most expensive military technologies #corroborates (0.65) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 417