Dual Use Research of Concern including Avian Influenza (H5N1)
A report by the German Ethics Council: Biosecurity – freedom and responsibility of research Published: 7 May 2014
‘Experiments that made bird flu more transmissible between mammals have sparked an international debate about such dual use research of concern (DURC). Against this background the German government mandated the German Ethics Council to prepare an opinion focussing on the question whether the existing German regulations and codes of conducts are sufficient in order to minimize misuse risks.
In it’s opinion “Biosecurity – freedom and responsibility of research”, published on 7 May 2014, the German Ethics Council provides five recommendations. They range from implementing educational programmes on biosecurity and the development of a national biosecurity code of conduct for responsible research to proposals for the legal regulation of DURC and international initiatives.’
The National Institutes for Health website
Which has a range of materials on the development and implementation of US biosecurity policy, including a code of conduct toolkit for practitioners.
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences website on Biosecurity
This website includes links to work on a code of conduct for scientists as well as a recent report on DURC oversight as a result of H5N1 gain-of-function discussions.
International Regimes
The UN Biological Weapons Convention website- A well maintained source of official submissions to BWC meetings. Including a section specifically on S&T review.
The UN Chemical Weapons Convention website- A well maintained source of official submissions to CWC meetings.
The UN 1540 Committee website. The website contains links to key international organisations involved in non-proliferation issues, as well as updates on the work being conducted by the committee. An example of this work includes a recent presentation given by 1540 committee expert Dr Dana Perkins at the 2013 BWC Meeting of Experts on recent advances in biosecurity education.
Civil Society
The BioWeapons Prevention Project website- produced by a global network of civil society actors. The BWPP monitors governmental and other activities relevant to the treaties that codify the norm against biological weapons. There is a maintained archive of ‘daily reports’ of BWC meetings which goes back to 2006.
The Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition website- produced by an independent, international body whose mission is to support the aims of the CWC. This website contains daily reports meetings from the 2013 CWC Review Conference. Daily reports of the 2008 CWC Review Conference are provided on a website maintained by Richard Guthrie.
Academic Projects
The Harvard-Sussex program BWC Science and Technology Review Project website. The project examined the review in the BWC regime in the run-up to the 2011 BWC review conference. The website provides a list of research papers and briefing notes produced by the project.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute website lists outputs addressing chemical and biological weapon issues. Recent key works include a Synthesis Report produced by leading experts in the run-up to the Seventh BWC Review Conference of 2011. Another recent policy paper produced in the run-up to the Third CWC Review Conference of 2013 also addresses S&T issues.
The Bradford Disarmament Research Center has a host of resources relevant to S&T aspects of the Biological Weapon control, which stretches back over a decade.
The Synthetic Biology Project website provides a comprehensive list of documents which have considered the societal implications of the field of synthetic biology ( especially security aspects) all the way back to 2003. The scope and extend of this lists reflects the broad range of contexts that misuse concerns have been discussed over the previous decade.
Bio Chem Sec 