Biotechnology in the 21st Century

Prof. Malcolm Dando, Professor of International Security and Director of the Bradford Disarmament Research Centre at the University of Bradford, UK

A series of 50 interactive seminars carried out over the last two years in six countries on three continents has shown that most practicing life scientists see little connection between the work they do and biowarfare and bioterrorism. Yet careful studies, for example in the US National Academies Fink and Lemon reports, show that there are real reasons for concern in that the ongoing revolution in the life sciences could facilitate malign misuse around the world. The presentation examines some of the relevant characteristics of modern biotechnology and assesses its potential impact on international security. Three future scenarios ranging from the benign to the malign are then outlined. Despite the obvious dangers, and the difficulties of agreeing effective international action, it is argued that there are opportunities to build on the relative success of the 2006 6th Five Year Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) and that life scientists can make an effective contribution to strengthening the prohibition of the malign misuse of the life sciences.