Editing Aral Sea (section)

==Vozrozhdeniya Island==
{{Main|Vozrozhdeniya Island}}
[[File:Modis aral.jpg|thumb|"Rebirth" Island joins the mainland in mid-2001.]]

Vozrozhdeniya (Russian for ''rebirth'') Island is a former [[List of islands in lakes|island]] of the Aral Sea or [[South Aral Sea]]. Due to the ongoing shrinkage of the Aral, it became first a [[peninsula]] in mid-2001 and finally part of the [[mainland]].<ref>[[NASA]] Visible Earth - [http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=2036 "Rebirth" Island Joins the Mainland] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528155231/http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=2036 |date=28 May 2010 }}, [http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=4343 Aral Sea] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728214310/http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=4343 |date=28 July 2010 }}</ref> Other islands like [[Kokaral]] and [[Barsa-Kelmes]] shared a similar fate. Since the disappearance of the Southeast Aral in 2008, Vozrozhdeniya Island effectively no longer exists as a distinct geographical feature. The area is now shared by [[Kazakhstan]] and [[Uzbekistan]].

In 1948, a top-secret [[Soviet]] [[bioweapon]]s laboratory was established on the island, in the centre of the Aral Sea which is now [[disputed territory]] between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The exact history, functions and current status of this facility are still unclear, but [[bio-agent]]s tested there included ''[[Bacillus anthracis]]'', ''[[Coxiella burnetii]]'', ''[[Francisella tularensis]]'', ''[[Brucella suis]]'', ''[[Rickettsia prowazekii]]'', ''[[Variola major]]'' (smallpox), ''[[Yersinia pestis]]'', [[botulinum toxin]], and [[Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bozheyeva|first1=G.|first2=Y. |last2=Kunakbayev|first3=D. |last3=Yeleukenov|year=1999|title=''Former Soviet Biological Weapons Facilities in Kazakhstan: Past, Present and Future''|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NunnLugar/2015/49.%201999-06-00%20Former%20Soviet%20Biological%20Weapons%20Facilities%20in%20Kazakhstan.Past%20Present%20and%20Future%20(from%20Web).pdf|place=[[Monterey]], [[Calif.]]|publisher=[[Monterey Institute of International Studies]], [[Center for Nonproliferation Studies]]|work=Occasional Paper 1}}</ref>

In 1971, weaponized smallpox from the island reached a nearby ship, which then allowed the virus to spread to the city of [[Aral, Kazakhstan|Aral]]. Ten people there were infected, of whom three died, and a massive vaccination effort involving 50,000 inhabitants ensued (see [[Aral smallpox incident]]). The bioweapons base was abandoned in 1992 following the [[disintegration of the Soviet Union]] the previous year. Scientific expeditions proved this had been a site for production, testing and later dumping of [[biological weapons|pathogenic weapons]]. In 2002, through a project organized by the United States and with Uzbekistan's assistance, 10 [[Bacillus anthracis|anthrax]] burial sites were decontaminated. According to the Kazakh Scientific Center for Quarantine and Zoonotic Infections, all burial sites of anthrax were decontaminated.<ref>{{cite news|title=Kazakhstan: Vozrozhdeniya Anthrax Burial Sites Destroyed|url=http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/newswires/2002_11_20.html|work= Global Security Newswire|publisher=Nuclear Threat Initiative|date=20 November 2002|access-date=17 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422205925/http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/newswires/2002_11_20.html|archive-date=22 April 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>