Biological science and biotechnology are advancing globally at an unprecedented rate and are being applied to such diverse sectors as energy, agriculture, health, and the environment. International scientific collaboration plays an essential role in advancing the biological sciences and applying their results to societal needs. These partnerships can improve relations between countries and enhance both safety and security worldwide. Successful and sustainable collaboration requires that potential partners have access to trained personnel and funding, and the partnerships are mutually beneficial.
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International Engagement Responsible Bioscience for a Safe and Secure Society
- February 28, 2011
- | Filed under Middle East, North America, Featured, Report, and 2001-2025
International Engagement Responsible Bioscience for a Safe and Secure Society, Workshop Three
The AAAS Center for Science, Technology, and Security Policy (CSTSP) initiated a series of discussion-based meetings in the broader Middle East and North Africa region, including Afghanistan and Pakistan (BMENA) to better understand critical issues that underlie international collaboration and scientific engagement in the biological sciences. This meeting was the third of four designed to address necessary components for successful collaboration among scientists between the BMENA countries and the United States.
Based on the first two meetings held in October 2010 and March 2011, participants emphasized the need to educate early career scientists (i.e., graduate students, scientists working at a post-doctoral level or equivalent, and junior faculty) about initiating and maintaining international scientific collaboration. In response to this, CSTSP in collaboration with the Institut Pasteur de Tunis and Faculty of Science Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar hosted the third meeting in Tunisia on 31 October to 1 November, 2011 to educate early-career scientists from the BMENA region about critical issues associated with international collaboration of infectious diseases.
- May 14, 2012
- | Filed under Africa, Middle East, North America, Report, and 2001-2025
International Health Regulations (IHR)
In response to the exponential increase in international travel and trade, and emergence and reemergence of international disease threats and other health risks, 194 countries across the globe have agreed to implement the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR). This binding instrument of international law entered into force on 15 June 2007.
The stated purpose and scope of the IHR are “to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease in ways that are commensurate with and restricted to public health risks, and which avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade.” Because the IHR are not limited to specific diseases, but are applicable to health risks, irrespective of their origin or source, they will follow the evolution of diseases and the factors affecting their emergence and transmission. The IHR also require States to strengthen core surveillance and response capacities at the primary, intermediate and national level, as well as at designated international ports, airports and ground crossings. They further introduce a series of health documents, including ship sanitation certificates and an international certificate of vaccination or prophylaxis for travelers.
Finally, this second edition includes a new foreword and the Health Part of the Aircraft General Declaration (as revised by the International Civil Aviation Organization), as well as Appendices listing States Parties to the IHR and reservations, objections and declarations received from States Parties.
- April 6, 2011
- | Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, Law, and 2001-2025
Is this Paper Dangerous? Balancing Secrecy and Openness in Counterterrorism
This document analyzes the question of “when should government share private information that may be useful to terrorists? Policy makers’ answer to this question has been typically been “it is dangerous to share information that can potentially help terrorists.” Unfortunately, this incomplete response has motivated a detrimental increase in the amount of information government keeps private or labels “sensitive but unclassified.” Two distinct types of private information that are potentially useful to terrorists and identify the range of conditions under which sharing each can enhance counterterrorism efforts” are identified and analyzed.
By Jacob N. Shapiro and David A. Siegel
- June 29, 2011
- | Filed under North America, Commentary, and 2001-2025
Is H5N1 Really Highly Lethal?
“How lethal are H5N1 influenza viruses to humans? The answer to this question is central to the current debate over research on genetically modified H5N1 viruses. In an effort to determine if highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 was capable of becoming easily transmissible between mammals, researchers in the Netherlands modified H5N1 viruses to make them transmissible between ferrets. The research has not yet been published, but reportedly the viruses were highly lethal to the ferrets when directly instilled into the ferrets’ trachea. Since ferrets are commonly used as the best animal model for simulating human influenza infection, concern has been raised that the newly modified virus may be highly lethal and highly transmissible among people as well. Some proponents of the research argue that the H5N1 viruses are not as dangerous as they seem and that therefore concerns about an accidental release of the mutated virus or its intentional use as a weapon are overblown. Critics of the research argue that the currently circulating strains of H5N1 are extraordinarily lethal and that research with highly lethal viruses modified to be highly transmissible poses an unacceptable risk to society. In an attempt to shed light on this question, we review the available evidence.”
by Eric S. Toner and Amesh A. Adalja
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