Research Report for the Wellcome Trust Project on `Building a Sustainable Capacity in Dual-use Bioethics`
By Chandre Gould

“It is a matter of record that over the past ten years there has been increased focus within the setting of international relations upon how to ensure that technological developments in the life sciences are not used by individuals, groups or states to endanger public health and security (Rappert 2009). Indeed, it has become accepted in the international discourse on biosecurity that a range of national and international measures is necessary to reduce the risk of biological weapons development and use. These measures include strengthening international and national norms and controls as well as raising scientists’ awareness of their own responsibility to be knowledgeable about national and international rules and obligations. The International Committee of the Red Cross coined the term ‘web of prevention’ to refer to the diverse measures to reduce risk, a term that has since gained increasing currency (Rappert and McLeish 2007). States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention have responded to the risk posed by biological weapons development by implementing measures that include, but not limited to…”