Biosecurity In The Global Age

"The renewed threat of biological weapons highlights the importance of crafting policy responses informed by the rule of law. This book explores patterns in recent governance initiatives and advocates building a "global biosecurity concert" as a way to address the threats presented by biological weapons and infectious diseases in the early 21st century."--BOOK JACKET.

This book explores the origins, interpretations and meanings of the term 'biosecurity'. It brings together contributors on issues relating to the perceptions of the threat of biological weapons and how states are responding, or not, to the challenges posed by the potential of the products of the life sciences to be used for destructive purposes.

In the light of scares about potential pandemics such as swine fever and avian flu, the issue of global health and its governance is of increasing concern to scholars and practitioners of medicine, public health, social work, and international politics alike. Providing a concise and informative introduction to how global health is governed, this book: Explores the various ways in which we understand global health governance Explains the "nuts and bolts" of the traditional institutions of global health governance, highlights key frameworks and treaties and their relative successes and failings Examines the actors in global health governance, their purpose, influence and impact Offers an in depth analysis of the effectiveness of global health interventions, focusing particularly on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Highlighting the wide variety of actors, issues and approaches involved, this work shows the complex nature of global health governance, forcing the reader to examine who or what really governs global health, to what outcome, and for whom.

This book aims to bolster the burgeoning discourse of health and human rights. In so doing, it charts the history of the linkage between health and human rights. It also pinpoints the sense of imperative that surrounds this relationship. More importantly, the book identifies a series of threats and challenges facing attempts to link health and human rights and proposes how these might be addressed. Amongst other things, it asks: is conflict between risk and rights inevitable in the context of infectious disease control? Is reproductive choice a bad argument in the context of reproductive technologies? Is it sensible for human rights to make use of measurement tools such as indicators? Is the 'cost of human rights' an argument that can and should be used by proponents of human rights? The answers it gives to these questions are original and engaging and will be of great interest to a diverse audience, including scholars and policy-makers in these areas.

Dr. Jayshree Pandya, founder of Risk Group LLC (http://www.riskgroupllc.com), is ahead of the curve in addressing the changing global fundamentals of the emerging Global Age. Global Age, and its changing global fundamentals has brought complex, chaotic, and turbulent times for every nation—where failures at all levels have come to become self-evident, repetitive, destructive, and potentially hopeless in nature and uncertainty. Nations are caught off guard. From what is visible across nations today, the promise of progress and prosperity for all nations does not seem to have materialized in a Global Age. Instead of progress and prosperity, what is visible today is crisis and catastrophe that is overpowering and overwhelming the capability of most nations to meet their promise of progress and prosperity. Nations are in crisis. This introductory book Global Age: NGIOA @ Risk addresses the global shifts and the changing global fundamentals of Global Age, to lay out much needed foundation of an integrated NGIOA risk governance framework for the coming tomorrow. This book will make a convincing case for the far-reaching need and understanding of global risk concepts, global risk fundamentals, and risk centric integrated NGIOA governance. The integrated NGIOA risk governance approach proposed and discussed in this initiative is rational, practical, and feasible. It will help create a dynamic, vibrant, and sustainable NGIOA economy of a Global Age. This initiative is a first step towards that.

This book is designed to be an easy-to-use guide to understanding the ethical and biosecurity implications of life science research. It provides a framework that will enable scientists, lab managers, researchers, students and teachers to anticipate how research may be used to cause harm, and to identify the steps that can be taken to minimise this risk. Life science research is covered by two international weapons treaties and the tools presented in this book will help scientists and researchers to meet their responsibilities under these conventions. This book will help you: Assess real and potential risks in relation to your workIdentify and implement a range of relevant ethical principles that need to be considered in your workUse an ethical framework to protect your work from misuse by others. If you've never been sure of how ethics relates to your work this toolkit will help you understand the challenges you do indeed face. Real-world case studies of biosecurity risks and failures will help scientists and all those who work to support science at all levels come to a new understanding of the widespread potential for misuse of research in the life sciences. By asking the questions set out in this book, scientists will be better able to recognise and reduce these risks. This framework is designed to be useful for senior scientists as well as students, and all researchers in between.

̀This is an excellent book which provides an authoritative introduction to the subject coupled with challenging and original new line of thinking about the problem of securing global health.' Colin McInnes, Aberystwyth University --