America`s growing fear of biological warfare following the September 11 attacks has brought a small manufacturer in South America a business opportunity of unprecedented proportions. Masprot, a small privately owned Chilean maker of gas masks based in Santiago, has received orders from US companies for 10,000 gas masks a month, well above its normal capacity of about 6,600 a month, a company executive said.
"About a couple of weeks ago, we received a request from our representative in the United States," Jaime Lean, chief executive of Masprot said. "They asked us to check on the possibility of supplying the United States with our equipment." The spectre of a biological or chemical attack by the same groups suspected of masterminding the aerial attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington has led to a run by consumers in the United States on gas masks, guns and survival supplies.
While most Americans support President George W Bush`s declared war on terrorism targeting Saudi-born Muslim dissident Osama bin Laden, they fear this week`s military strikes in Afghanistan may provoke further attacks on US soil, this time with dreaded chemical or biological weapons.
Chile`s Masprot is one of the few Latin American makers of gas masks that boasts US-approved quality certification. The deal would multiply the firm`s sales. It does not release sales figures but charges $12 per mask and $2.50 per filter. Bureau Report