On 16 December 2015, the InterAcademy Panel (IAP), the global network of science academies, published, in partnership with the Royal Society, the US National Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Science, a review of scientific and technological developments that have implications for the UN Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC). The review, available to download from http://iapbwg.pan.pl/index.php/reports, was presented at a side event at the Meeting of the States Parties to the BWC in Geneva, Switzerland. It ensures that the most up to date scientific advice in the area of biosciences is available to assist policy makers in preparing for the 8th BWC Review Conference, which takes in place December 2016.
Professor Rod Flower FRS, who chaired the project, said “Whilst the malevolent uses of biological organisms or toxins has been historically low, new scientific advances present both opportunities and possible risks in the foreseeable future. For instance, this year gene editing has raised a number of ethical concerns, including the potential biosecurity risks it poses.
“The scientific community has an important role to play in helping policy makers identify measures to manage these risks without jeopardising the enormous potential benefits from research advances. We look forward to feeding our findings into the Meeting of the State Parties to support discussions ahead of the 2016 BWC Review Conference.”
The review is the output of a trends symposium, co-hosted by the IAP, the Royal Society, US National Academy of Sciences and Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland, 13 – 15 September 2015. This bought together scientists, diplomats and government technical experts to discuss new scientific knowledge and techniques relevant to the BWC. The UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office, USA Department of Defence, and IAP funded the project.
Key issues highlighted in the review include:
- Biosciences are developing at an unprecedented rate and moving from ‘concept’ to ‘application’ is becoming ever simpler, with costs continuing to fall. This has both positive and negative implications for the BWC.
- Technological barriers to acquiring and using a biological weapon have been significantly eroded since the Seventh Review Conference (2011).
- Although these new advances in biotechnology could be used for non-peaceful purposes they are still expensive and complicated to acquire and deploy successfully. This situation may change in the future, reinforcing the need for on-going efforts to review relevant developments in science and technology.
- The ‘bio-economy’ has grown significantly and is therefore itself a potential target for attack.
- A positive outcome since the Seventh Review Conference is that the global ability to quickly and accurately detect and treat disease has been greatly enhanced thanks to developments in technology such as genetic sequencing.
The side event, hosted by the Royal Society and the InterAcademy Panel, also included presentations about synthetic biology and microbial forensics, a relatively new scientific discipline used to help investigate possible bioterrorism attacks, or inadvertent microorganism or toxin release.
For further information contact:
Bronwyn Friedlander
Head of Media Relations
The Royal Society, London
Tel: 020 7451 2514
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