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BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS UPDATE3 January 2008 In this issue:
Previous editions of Biological Weapons Update are available at: http://www.basicint.org/update/bwu.htm. Important Announcement: new home for BW UpdateBASIC is embarking on an ambitious new program, Getting to Zero, to help leaders take the necessary steps to eventually rid the world of nuclear weapons. To enable us to concentrate on this work we will no longer be producing Biological Weapons Update. However, we are pleased to be able to announce that the South African-based Institute for Security Studies (www.issafrica.org) will be taking over the publication of the Update. The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) is a regional applied policy think-tank that engages on peace and security issues in Africa. It has its headquarters in Pretoria and sub-regional offices in Cape Town, Nairobi and Addis Ababa. ISS has recently embarked on a project to identify and strengthen Africašs role in international efforts to strengthen disarmament and non-proliferation as they relate to weapons of mass destruction in the context of Africašs developmental imperatives. Chandre Gould, the project's lead BW researcher, who will co-ordinate the production of BW Update, can be contacted on cgould@issafrica.org. If you do not want us to pass your email contact details to ISS, please email basicuk@basicint.org with the message 'unsubscribe BW Update' in the subject line before the end of January. Arms Control: December Meeting of States Parties to BWC in GenevaThe 2007 Meeting of States Parties (MSP) to the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) took place in Geneva on 10-14 December 2007. The MSP was preceded by a one-week Meeting of Experts in August (see previous BW Update). These two meetings were the first part of a four-year programme mandated by the 2006 Sixth Review Conference of the BWC aimed at strengthening the implementation of the Convention and improving its effectiveness as a practical barrier against the development or use of biological weapons. A final report was agreed in which states parties 'recognised the value' of ensuring that national implementation measures 'penalize and prevent activities' that breach any of the prohibitions of the Convention. The text of the final report also recognised the value of strengthening national capacities, especially export/import controls, and to hold 'regular national reviews' of adopted measures. The report also indicated that national implementation should 'avoid hampering the economic and technological development of States Parties, or international cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of biological science and technology'. On the second topic of the MSP, the report notes that states parties 'agreed on the value of regional and sub-regional efforts to, where appropriate' develop 'common approaches to implementing the Convention'. The final report has no formal status. The next Meeting of Experts will take place on 18-22 August 2008 and the Meeting of States Parties on 1-5 December 2008. Ambassador Georgi Avramchev (The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) will be Chairman. The 2008 Meetings will discuss 'National, regional and international measures to improve biosafety and biosecurity, including laboratory safety and security of pathogens and toxins' and 'Oversight, education, awareness raising, and adoption and/or development of codes of conduct with the aim to prevent misuse in the context of advances in bio-science and bio-technology research with the potential of use for purposes prohibited by the Convention.' The BioWeapons Prevention Project (BWPP) produced daily reports and collected documents, working papers, presentations, and statements from the MSP. They are available here. Beijing on Biohazards: Chinese Experts on Bioweapons Nonproliferation IssuesIn a September 2007 report published by the James Martin Center for Non-Proliferation, six senior experts from China examine key topics linked to biological weapons nonproliferation. Entitled Beijing on Biohazards and edited by Amy Smithson these essays are seeds for a dialogue between Chinese and Western policymakers about the nature of the biological weapons threat and the tools to reduce it. This report will help foreign audiences better understand Chinese thinking at a time when the country's pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry is booming. The Chinese experts call for international collaboration as well as improvements in some areas of domestic and international policy. Anthrax Release at US Livermore LabIn October 2007, at the first ever congressional hearing (carried out by the House Energy and Commerce Committee) on the safety and security of US bio-defence research laboratories, it was announced that the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory had been fined $450,000 for an anthrax incident in September 2005. The Laboratory mishandled anthrax, breached security and access requirements and violated shipping laws leading to a release of anthrax during a transfer to two other laboratories, one in Virginia and one in Florida. The fine is the largest levied in recent history by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The Laboratory had previously failed to disclose that anthrax was involved or released. In April 2006, the lab earned a three-year renewal of its registration to handle biological agents. For further details see the October 5 and October 9 press releases by Tri-Valley CAREs. 'Black Death': Interpol Bioterrorism Tabletop ExerciseA December 21 report by Stratfor on the risks of bioterrorism refers to a recent two-day tabletop exercise carried out by Interpol at its headquarters in Lyon, France. Code-named "Black Death", the scenario involved militants unleashing a biological agent at a large sporting event, using air horns to disperse the agent into the unwitting crowd. Stratfor concludes that while history has shown that militants are interested in large sporting events as venues for terror; firearms or IEDs are more likely to be used in their attacks than biological agents. Further reading:
Bird Flu Back in the Headlines in the UKIn November 2007 Bird Flu was back in the headlines in the UK. Following the deaths of some birds from the H5N1 virus on a free range poultry farm in Suffolk, 5,000 turkeys, 1,000 ducks and 500 geese were immediately slaughtered. Birds on four premises serviced by some of the same staff were then slaughtered two days later. UK authorities set up a 3km protection zone, a 10km surveillance zone and a restricted zone that covered most of Norfolk and Suffolk (and included 1,200 poultry farmers and 25 million birds). The origin of the virus into the UK at this time remains unknown. One possibility is that it arrived with migrating birds. Attention also focused on a batch of imported ducklings from the Netherlands. The virus is of Asian lineage and is of the same form that infected birds in the Czech Republic and Germany. This latest UK outbreak came eight months after another nearby farm had similarly been infected by H5N1. On that occasion, the most likely source of the infection had been a sister agricultural plant in Hungary, although the exact link was never established. Although the outbreak is now over investigations are ongoing to try to determine its source. There have been no human cases of illness associated with this incident. It was 10 years ago in Hong Kong, when a mysterious bird flu virus jumped from poultry to people for the first time, killing six of the 18 people infected. Warnings persist of a global flu pandemic. Since 2003, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed 346 infections in 14 countries, and 213 deaths. Further reading:
New book on Bioweapons by Barry KelmanBarry Kelman has authored a new comprehensive book (Bioviolence - Preventing Biological Terror and Crime, Cambridge University Press, 2007) on the threat posed by the malign use of biological agents and some of the essential responses to the threat. It has already been widely praised by practitioners, and has been the subject of a number of meetings around the world. "Professor Kellman's book is a clarion call, serving both as an accessible text for understanding this complicated subject and as a strategy for policies and actions that governments can take today. By raising awareness of the spectre of bioterrorism, this book should encourage policy action on the part of world leaders." Ronald K. Noble, Secretary General, Interpol Click here for a Printer-Friendly Version. |
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