Biosecurity encompasses the efforts to limit the development and use of biological weapons, as well as the strategies to prevent or limit pandemic outbreaks. Legal and scientific efforts to curtail the malevolent use of pathogens (e.g., anthrax) or limit the occurrence of natural pandemics (e.g., influenza) necessarily overlap. Specific areas of current interest in biosecurity include the oversight of dual-use research in the life sciences, biosafety regulations on the use of specific pathogens in laboratory research, potential restrictions on the dissemination of research results with dual-use application, risk assessments of synthetic biology, the status of international governance mechanisms, such as the Biological Weapons Convention, the strengthening of public health surveillance mechanisms through the International Health Regulations, and the creation of international pandemic preparedness frameworks by the World Health Organization. A panel of legal scholars and scientists will discuss current legal issues in biosecurity, and consider how the legal and scientific efforts to prevent bioterrorism or limit infectious disease both converge and diverge.
Business Meeting at Program Conclusion.