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Biosecurity

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Not to be confused with Biosafety.

Biosecurity is set of measures aimed at preventing the introduction and/or spread of harmful organisms, in order to minimise the risk of transmission of infectious diseases to people, animals and plants caused by viruses, bacteria or other microorganisms. In agriculture, it aims to protect food crops and livestock by keeping pests, invasive species and other organisms which may harm the welfare of the human population. The term includes biological threats to people, including from pandemic diseases and bioterrorism. The definition has sometimes been broadened to embrace other concepts, and it is used for different purposes in different contexts.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a recent example of a threat which has needed to engage biosecurity measures in all countries of the world.

Background and terminology

The term biosecurity has been defined differently by various disciplines. The term was first used by the agricultural and environmental communities to describe preventative measures against threats from naturally occurring diseases and pests, later expanded to introduced species. Australia and New Zealand, among other countries, had incorporated this definition within their legislation by 2010. New Zealand was the earliest adopter of a comprehensive approach with its Biosecurity Act 1993. In 2001, the US National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) defined biosecurity as "the sum of risk management practices in defense against biological threats", and its main goal as "protect against the risk posed by disease and organisms".

In 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) provided an information note describing biosecurity as a strategic and integrated approach to analysing and managing relevant risks to human, animal and plant life and health and associated risks for the environment.

Measures taken to counter biosecurity risks typically include compulsory terms of quarantine, and are put in place to minimise the risk of invasive pests or diseases arriving at a specific location that could damage crops and livestock as well as the wider environment.

In general, the term is today taken to include managing biological threats to people, industries or environment. These may be from foreign or endemic organisms, but they can also extend to pandemic diseases and the threat of bioterrorism, both of which pose threats to public health.

Laboratory biosafety and intentional harm

Main articles: Bioterrorism and Laboratory biosafety

The definition has sometimes been broadened to embrace other concepts, and it is used for different purposes in different contexts. A 2016 draft handbook on biosecurity education produced by the Bradford Disarmament Research Centre at Bradford University in the UK, where the focus is on the dangers of "dual-use" research, defines the term as meaning "successful minimising of the risks that the biological sciences will be deliberately or accidentally misused in a way which causes harm for humans, animals, plants or the environment, including through awareness and understanding of the risks".

From the late 1990s, in response to the threat of biological terrorism, the term started to include the prevention of the theft of biological materials from research laboratories, called "laboratory biosecurity" by WHO.

In the US, the National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity was created in 2004 to provide biosecurity oversight of "dual-use research", defined as "biological research with legitimate scientific purpose that may be misused to pose a biological threat to public health and/or national security". In 2006, the National Academy of Sciences defined biosecurity as "security against the inadvertent, inappropriate, or intentional malicious or malevolent use of potentially dangerous biological agents or biotechnology, including the development, production, stockpiling, or use of biological weapons as well as outbreaks of newly emergent and epidemic disease".

A number of nations have developed biological weapons for military use, and many civilian research projects in medicine have the potential to be used in military applications (dual-use research), so biosecurity protocols are used to prevent dangerous biological materials from falling into the hands of malevolent parties.

The future

The emerging nature of newer biosecurity threats means that small-scale risks can blow up rapidly, which makes the development of an effective policy challenging owing to the limitations on time and resources available for analysing threats and estimating the likelihood of their occurrence. Biosecurity requires the cooperation of scientists, technicians, policy makers, security engineers, and law enforcement officials.

Animals and plants

Threats to animals and plants, in particular food crops, which may in turn threaten human health, are typically overseen by a government department of agriculture.

Animal biosecurity encompasses different means of prevention and containment of disease agents in a specific area. A critical element in animal biosecurity is biocontainment – the control of disease agents already present in a particular area and work to prevent transmission. Animal biosecurity may protect organisms from infectious agents or noninfectious agents such as toxins or pollutants, and can be executed in areas as large as a nation or as small as a local farm.

Animal biosecurity takes into account the epidemiological triad for disease occurrence: the individual host, the disease, and the environment in contributing to disease susceptibility. It aims to improve nonspecific immunity of the host to resist the introduction of an agent, or limit the risk that an agent will be sustained in an environment at adequate levels. Biocontainment works to improve specific immunity towards already present pathogens.

Human health

Direct threats to human health may come in the form of epidemics or pandemics, such as the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and other influenza epidemics, MERS, SARS, or the 2019-2020 COVID-19 pandemic, or they may be deliberate attacks (bioterrorism). The country/federal and/or state health departments are usually responsible for managing the control of outbreaks and transmission and the supply of information to the public.

Medical countermeasures

Medical countermeasures (MCMs) are products such as biologics and pharmaceutical drugs that can protect from or treat the effects of a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) attack. MCMs can also be used for prevention and diagnosis of symptoms associated with CBRN attacks or threats.

In the US, The FDA runs a program called the "FDA Medical Countermeasures Initiative" (MCMi), with programs funded by the federal government. It helps support "partner" agencies and organisations prepare for public health emergencies that could require MCMs.

As international security issue

For a long time, health security or biosecurity issues were not considered as an international security issue, especially in the traditional view of international relations. However, some changes in trend have contributed to the inclusion of biosecurity (health security) in discussions of security. As time progressed, there was a movement towards securitisation. Non-traditional security issues such as climate change, organised crime, terrorism, and landmines came to be included in the definition of international security. There was a general realization that the actors in the international system not only involved nation-states but also included international organizations, institutions, and individuals, which ensured the security of various actors within each nation became an important agenda. Biosecurity is one of the issues to be securitized under this trend. On 10 January 2000, the UN Security Council convened to discuss HIV/AIDS as a security issue in Africa and designated it a threat in the following month. The UNDP Millennium Development Goals also recognise health issues as international security issue.

Several instances of epidemics such as SARS increased awareness of health security (biosecurity). Several factors have rendered biosecurity issues more severe: there is a continuing advancement of biotechnology, which increases the possibility for malevolent use, evolution of infectious diseases, and globalising force which is making the world more interdependent and more susceptible to spread of epidemics.

Controversial experiments in synthetic biology, including the synthesis of poliovirus from its genetic sequence, and the modification of flu type H5N1 for airborne transmission in mammals, led to calls for tighter controls on the materials and information used to perform similar feats. Ideas include better enforcement by national governments and private entities concerning shipments and downloads of such materials, and registration or background check requirements for anyone handling such materials.

Some uncertainties about the policy implementation for biosecurity remain for future. In order to carefully plan out preventive policies, policy makers need to be able to somewhat predict the probability and assess the risks; however, as the uncertain nature of the biosecurity issue goes it is largely difficult to predict and also involves a complex process as it requires a multidisciplinary approach. The policy choices they make to address an immediate threat could pose another threat in the future, facing an unintended trade-off.

Philosopher Toby Ord, in his 2020 book The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity, puts into question whether the current international conventions regarding biotechnology research and development regulation, and self-regulation by biotechnology companies and the scientific community are adequate.

Biosecurity includes the prevention of the illicit use of pathogenic bioorganisms by laboratory staff or others. It also means the protection of laboratory staff from being infected by pathogenic bioorganisms.

Challenges

One of the major challenges of biosecurity is that harmful technology has become more available and accessible. Biomedical advances and the globalisation of scientific and technical expertise have made it possible to greatly improve public health; however, there is also the risk that these advances can make it easier for terrorists to produce biological weapons.

The proliferation of high biosafety level laboratories around the world has resulted in concern about the availability of targets for those that might be interested in stealing dangerous pathogens. Emerging and re-emerging disease is also a biosecurity concern. The growth in containment laboratories is often in response to emerging diseases, and many new containment labs' main focus is to find ways to control these diseases. By strengthening national disease surveillance, prevention, control and response systems, the labs have improved international public health.

Communication between the citizen and law enforcement officials is important. Indicators of agro-terrorism at a food processing plant may include persons taking notes or photos of a business, theft of employee uniforms, employees changing working hours, or persons attempting to gain information about security measures and personnel. Unusual activity is best handled if reported to law enforcement personnel promptly. Communication between policymakers and life sciences scientists is also important.

The MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, with its socio-political unrest, diverse cultures and societies, and recent biological weapons programs, faces particular challenges.

Role of education

The advance of the life sciences and biotechnology has the potential to bring great benefits to humankind through responding to societal challenges. However, it is also possible that such advances could be exploited for hostile purposes, something evidenced in a small number of incidents of bioterrorism, particularly by the series of large-scale offensive biological warfare programs carried out by major states in the last century. Dealing with this challenge, which has been labelled the "dual-use dilemma," requires a number of different activities. However, one way of ensuring that the life sciences continue to generate significant benefits and do not become subject to misuse for hostile purposes is a process of engagement between scientists and the security community, and the development of strong ethical and normative frameworks to complement legal and regulatory measures that are developed by states.

See also

References

  1. ^ Koblentz, Gregory D. (2010). "Biosecurity Reconsidered: Calibrating Biological Threats and Responses". International Security. 34 (4): 96–132. doi:10.1162/isec.2010.34.4.96. Full text
  2. Meyerson, Laura A.; Reaser, Jamie K. (July 2002). "Biosecurity: Moving toward a Comprehensive Approach: A comprehensive approach to biosecurity is necessary to minimize the risk of harm caused by non-native organisms to agriculture, the economy, the environment, and human health". BioScience. 52 (7): 593–600. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2002)052[0593:BMTACA]2.0.CO;2. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
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  7. Jaspersen, Johannes G.; Montibeller, Gilberto (1 July 2015). "Probability Elicitation Under Severe Time Pressure: A Rank-Based Method". Risk Analysis. 35 (7): 1317–1335. doi:10.1111/risa.12357. ISSN 1539-6924. PMID 25850859.
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  16. ^ "What are Medical Countermeasures?". FDA: Emergency Preparedness and Response. Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  17. "Alliance for Biosecurity applauds subcommittee efforts to sustain medical countermeasure funding". Homeland Preparedness News. Washington, D.C. 8 June 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
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  19. ^ Ord, Toby (6 March 2020). "Why we need worst-case thinking to prevent pandemics". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 April 2020. This is an edited extract from The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity
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  21. McClellan, Paul (27 March 2009). "Designer Plague". EDA Graffiti. Archived from the original on 12 May 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  22. Institute of Medicine (31 January 2006). Globalization, Biosecurity, and the Future of the Life Sciences. National Academies Press. doi:10.17226/11567. ISBN 978-0-309-10032-8.
  23. Criminal Investigation Handbook for Agroterrorism|2008|U.S. Government Printing Office|Washington, D.C.|pages=34-36
  24. Bio-Response Report Card. The Bipartisan WMD Terrorism Research Center. October 2011. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 December 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  25. Benson, David; Roger K. Kjelgren (13 January 2014). "Tacit Diplomacy in Life Sciences A Foundation for Science Diplomacy". Science & Diplomacy. 3 (1).
  26. Nasim, Anwar; et al. (26 November 2013). "Paths to Biosafety and Biosecurity Sustainability". Science & Diplomacy. 2 (4).
  27. "Preventing Biological Threats: What You Can Do" (Document). Bradford Disarmament Research Centre. December 2015. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |access-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |editor-first1= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |editor-first2= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |editor-first3= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |editor-first4= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |editor-last1= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |editor-last2= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |editor-last3= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |editor-last4= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)

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