Biological arms control

The United Nations Secretary General has pointed out that the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), as the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons of mass destruction, has made an important contribution towards the world community’s collective efforts to eliminate the threat of weapons of mass destruction. While the prohibitions against biological weapons established in the Convention have been reaffirmed by states parties, in the early 1990s revelations about the full scope of Iraq’s clandestine biological weapon programme provided impetus to efforts to elaborate appropriate measures to strengthen the BWC. These efforts to find a common approach to strengthening the BWC have been slow, at times acrimonious, and (thus far) unsuccessful. However, the Review Conference held in 2006 may have created conditions in which more specific measures to strengthen the BWC might be adopted after 2011.

In recent years concern that the misuse of biomedical research could increase the threat of bioterrorist attacks or contribute unwittingly to proliferation has magnified. The benefits derived from biomedical research in strengthening global public health justify its continuation because research involving harmful biological pathogens and toxins is an essential part of combating the diseases that these agents cause. The SIPRI Yearbook has recently analysed the need for enhanced biosecurity. In 2007 SIPRI has initiated a project to analyse how to strengthen biosecurity in biomedical research facilities in the Stockholm area.

To reduce the risk that biological weapons could be acquired by unauthorized state or non-state actors a number of practical measures have been defined to increase the physical security of relevant bio-materials and to safeguard against their diversion or misuse.