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Biological And Toxin Weapons Convention
The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans biological and toxin weapons by prohibiting their development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use. The treaty's full name is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction. Having entered into force on 26 March 1975, the BWC was the first multilateral disarmament treaty to ban the production of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. The convention is of unlimited duration. As of February 2022, 184 states have become party to the treaty. Four additional states have signed but not ratified the treaty, and another nine states have neither signed nor acceded to the treaty.Report on universalization activities, 2019 Meeting of States Parties to the Biological Weapons ConventionBWC/MSP/2019/3 Geneva, 8 October ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as ''Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city#National capitals, Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national Government of the United Kingdom, government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the Counties of England, counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Biological Weapons Program
The United States biological weapons program officially began in spring 1943 on orders from U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. Research continued following World War II as the U.S. built up a large stockpile of biological agents and weapons. Over the course of its 27-year history, the program weaponized and stockpiled the following seven bio-agents (and pursued basic research on many more): *''Bacillus anthracis'' (anthrax) *''Francisella tularensis'' ( tularemia) *'' Brucella'' spp (brucellosis) *'' Coxiella burnetii'' ( Q-fever) *Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus *Botulinum toxin (botulism) * Staphylococcal enterotoxin B Throughout its history, the U.S. bioweapons program was secret. It was later revealed that laboratory and field testing (some of the latter using simulants on non-consenting individuals) had been common. The official policy of the United States was first to deter the use of bio-weapons against U.S. forces and secondarily to retaliate if deterrence failed. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CRISPR
CRISPR () (an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments of bacteriophages that had previously infected the prokaryote. They are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar bacteriophages during subsequent infections. Hence these sequences play a key role in the antiviral (i.e. anti-phage) defense system of prokaryotes and provide a form of acquired immunity. CRISPR is found in approximately 50% of sequenced bacterial genomes and nearly 90% of sequenced archaea. Cas9 (or "CRISPR-associated protein 9") is an enzyme that uses CRISPR sequences as a guide to recognize and cleave specific strands of DNA that are complementary to the CRISPR sequence. Cas9 enzymes together with CRISPR sequences form the basis of a technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 that can be used to edit genes within organisms. This editi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potential Pandemic Pathogens
Potential generally refers to a currently unrealized ability. The term is used in a wide variety of fields, from physics to the social sciences to indicate things that are in a state where they are able to change in ways ranging from the simple release of energy by objects to the realization of abilities in people. The philosopher Aristotle incorporated this concept into his theory of potentiality and actuality, a pair of closely connected principles which he used to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his ''Physics'', ''Metaphysics'', ''Nicomachean Ethics'', and ''De Anima'', which is about the human psyche. That which is potential can theoretically be made actual by taking the right action; for example, a boulder on the edge of a cliff has potential to fall that could be actualized by pushing it over the edge. Several languages have a potential mood, a grammatical construction that indicates that something is potential. These include Finnish, Japanese, and Sanskr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gain-of-function Experiments
Gain-of-function research (GoF research or GoFR) is medical research that genetically alters an organism in a way that may enhance the biological functions of gene products. This may include an altered pathogenesis, transmissibility, or host range, i.e. the types of hosts that a microorganism can infect. This research is intended to reveal targets to better predict emerging infectious diseases and to develop vaccines and therapeutics. For example, influenza B can infect only humans and harbor seals. Introducing a mutation that would allow influenza B to infect rabbits in a controlled laboratory situation would be considered a gain-of-function experiment, as the virus did not previously have that function. That type of experiment could then help reveal which parts of the virus's genome correspond to the species that it can infect, enabling the creation of antiviral medicines which block this function. In virology, gain-of-function research is usually employed with the intention ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Filippa Lentzos
Filippa Lentzos is a Norwegian social scientist researching threats posed by biological agents. She is a senior research fellow at King's College London, holding a joint appointment in the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine and the Department of War Studies. Lentzos also holds the position of associate senior researcher at the Armament and Disarmament Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Moreover, she is the NGO Coordinator for the Biological Weapons Convention since 2017, the biosecurity columnist at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 2018, and an associate editor of the social science journal ''BioSocieties''. Career With a background in human sciences, Lentzos obtained a PhD in sociology from the University of Nottingham, England. She then spent 10 years as a researcher at the London School of Economics and Political Science The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eighteen Nation Committee On Disarmament
The Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament (ENCD) was sponsored by the United Nations in 1961. The ENCD considered disarmament, confidence-building measures and nuclear test controls.Eighteen Nation Committee on Diarmament , , UM Digital Library Production Service, updated February 17, 2006, accessed June 7, 2010. Between 1965 and 1968, the ENCD negotiated the . History The[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treaty On The Non-Proliferation Of Nuclear Weapons
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. Between 1965 and 1968, the treaty was negotiated by the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament, a United Nations-sponsored organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. Opened for signature in 1968, the treaty entered into force in 1970. As required by the text, after twenty-five years, NPT Parties met in May 1995 and agreed to extend the treaty indefinitely. More countries are parties to the NPT than any other arms limitation and disarmament agreement, a testament to the treaty's significance. As of August 2016, 191 states have become parties to the treaty, though North Korea, which acceded in 1985 but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conference Of The Committee On Disarmament
The Conference of the Committee on Disarmament was a United Nations disarmament committee authorized by a General Assembly resolution. It began work in 1969 as the successor to the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament. History The Conference of the Committee on Disarmament (CCD) succeeded the Eighteen Nation Committee Disarmament (ENCD) as the U.N.'s disarmament committee in 1969. Osmańczyk, Edmund Jan and Mango, Anthony. ''Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements: A to F'',Google Books link, Taylor & Francis, 2003 p. 434,(). In addition to the name change General Assembly Resolution 2602(XXIV) expanded the membership from the ENDC's 18 to the new CCD's 26. The CCD was enlarged again by the General Assembly from 26 to 31 nations in 1975.Fartash, Manoutchehr. "The 'disarmament club' at work",Google Books link, ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'', January 1977, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 57-62, (). Throughout the process of UN disarmament negotiations, includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Cirincione
Joseph Cirincione (, (born November 13, 1949) is a national security analyst and author. He served as the president of the Ploughshares Fund, a public grant-making foundation focused on nuclear nonproliferation and conflict resolution. Career Cirincione was appointed president of Ploughshares Fund on March 5, 2008. He retired from the position on July 1, 2020. He joined the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft as a non-resident fellow in September 2020, and is an adjunct faculty member at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He resigned from the Quincy Institute in August 2022 in protest of its dovish response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which he described as "a completely unjustified, unprovoked invasion of a sovereign state". He is the author or editor of seven books, including ''Nuclear Nightmares: Securing the World Before It Is Too Late'' (Columbia University Press, 2013), ''Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons'' (Columb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. His five years in the White House saw reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the first manned Moon landings, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Nixon's second term ended early, when he became the only president to resign from office, as a result of the Watergate scandal. Nixon was born into a poor family of Quakers in a small town in Southern California. He graduated from Duke Law School in 1937, practiced law in California, then moved with his wife Pat to Washington in 1942 to work for the federal government. After activ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Statement On Chemical And Biological Defense Policies And Programs
The "Statement on Chemical and Biological Defense Policies and Programs" was a speech delivered on November 25, 1969, by U.S. President Richard Nixon. In the speech, Nixon announced the end of the U.S. offensive biological weapons program and reaffirmed a no-first-use policy for chemical weapons. The statement excluded toxins, herbicides and riot-control agents as they were not chemical and biological weapons, though herbicides and toxins were both later banned. The decision to ban biological weapons was influenced by a number of domestic and international issues. Push for a U.S. ban When Richard Nixon selected Melvin Laird as his Secretary of Defense in early 1969, Laird directed the Department of Defense to undertake a comprehensive review of U.S. biological warfare (BW) programs.Mangold, Tom. ''Plague Wars: The Terrifying Reality of Biological Warfare''. Macmillan, 1999, pp. 54-57, (). Laird's push for a review of both the chemical and biological programs arose when Cong ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
