Index

31 March 2000


Press Release
DC/2690



SYMPOSIUM MARKS TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION

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NEW YORK, 31 March (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- A symposium on “Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC): International Cooperation and Exchanges in the Field of Biotechnology”, organized jointly by the Department for Disarmament Affairs and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), was held on 24 March 2000 to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary on -- 26 March -- of the entry into force of the Convention.

The symposium was part of a series of discussions that the Department initiated in 1998 on topics of interest in the field of arms limitation and disarmament, with a view to broadening understanding and facilitating debate on these issues. The impact of the advancement in biotechnology on the non- proliferation regime of biological weapons and new initiatives for the use of biotechnology for peaceful purposes were the main focus of the discussions.

Pointing to the announcement made that same morning that the entire genome of the fruit fly had been sequenced, Joshua Lederberg, Nobel laureate and former Chairman of Rockefeller University, stressed that it was a “short step to do the same for the human” that could lead to a “deep philosophical cum technological understanding of the roots of life, from microbes, to food plants, even to human nature ... Plainly, we are facing the gravest of choices, whether these immense powers will result in misery, even extermination or common human benefit in a new economy coupled with a new democratic polity”.

Tibor Tóth of Hungary, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Group of the States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention, currently negotiating a verification protocol to the Convention in Geneva, noted that no inspection had even been carried out in the 25 year existence of the Convention. He urged negotiators to seize the unique opportunity of the turn of the century “to complete” the Convention.

Adolfo R. Taylhardat, President of the Board of Governors of the ICGEB, noted that the BWC preserved a delicate balance between the need to outlaw biological weapons and the need not to interfere with the progress in scientific research in biotechnology.

Jayantha Dhanapala, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, noted that the spirit and principles of the Convention remained relevant and valid 25 years after its entry into force. He stressed the need to stave off attempts


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for the offensive use of biological agents and biotechnology, but, at the same, time recalled the responsibility of the international community to ensure equal access by everyone to the benefits brought forth by new technologies. International cooperation and exchanges in biotechnology required the involvement of civil society, he said.

Other keynote speakers were: Prof. Arturo Falaschi, Director, ICGEB; Dr. Jack Melling, Director, The Karl Land Steiner Institute; Dr. Nikolai V. Gnuchev, Vice-Director, Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Dr. Demissie Habte, Lead Health Specialist, World Bank; and Dr. Ottorino Cosivi, Scientist, Department of Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response, World Health Organization (WHO).

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