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Strengthening Biological Weapons Control Through Global Epidemiological Surveillance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Mark L. Wheelis
Mark L. Wheelis*
Affiliation:
University of California—Davis, USA
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Abstract

A global epidemiological surveillance system is needed both for verification of the 1925 Geneva Protocol and as a confidence-building measure for the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). This proposal should be part of the agenda of the Fourth Review Conference of the BWC, with preliminary consideration and analysis conducted at the national level and by appropriate international expert groups in preparation for the Review Conference. An example of the kind of program that might be constructed is described. Such a program would make it very difficult for hostile use of biological agents to remain undetected, would catalyze a dramatic increase in global public, agricultural, and veterinary health, and would offer reasonable assurance that emerging diseases would be detected at an early stage. These benefits easily justify the expenditures that would be required.

Type
Roundtable Article
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , August 1992 , pp. 179 - 189
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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