Is there an international treaty on biodefense?
The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), a treaty ratified by 144 nations including the United States and Russia that came into force in 1972, prohibits the production, stockpiling, development, and use of biological weapons. Article 1 of the Convention permits research on dangerous biological agents and toxins that is peaceful, prophylactic, or protective in nature. However, distinctions between offensive and defensive applications of research on bioterrorism agents are difficult to establish at numerous stages of the research process. To resolve this dual-use dilemma, in September of 1998, BWC member states began a process of drafting a verification and enforcement protocol to ensure routine declarations of research on biological warfare agents and inspections of declared facilities. Unfortunately, during negotiations in November 2001, the U.S. announced that it would not permit a binding verification agreement to move forward. As a result, international monitoring of biological defe
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