Bio-Terrorism and Bio-Defence

The use of biological weapons in warfare is as old as history itself. Several countries have used them in the last century. What is new at this juncture, especially after 9/11, is fears that biological weapons might be used to cause mass disruption, if not mass destruction, and against very difficultly defensible targets like agricultural crops and livestock. Epidemiologists are also aware that new diseases are constantly appearing due to changes in either the ecology or human behaviour, compounding the problems of their prevention and cure. They could also be artificially manufactured by state and non-state actors, which is becoming progressively easier due to the rapid advances being made in bio-technology like gene manipulation.

Terrorist groups are known to be interested in developing and using biological weapons. Several countries are also known to be currently researching into these weapons. Regretably, international efforts to develop a regime to verify the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention have failed, and the present attempts to establish an alternate system simply lack credibility. The technological, legal and political challenges to stopping the proliferation of biological weapons are, however, intricate and immense.

This volume seeks to address these issues of bio-terrorism and bio-defence. They are grouped under three major heads relating to national and international efforts to combat biological weapons, bio-terrorism and bio-defence. A fourth section deals with investigations into SARS and bird flu, a chronology of important cases relating to the use of these weapons, and a bibliography of the important literature on the subject.

Editors P.R. Chari is a former member of the Indian Administrative Service. He was an Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Defence. He was Director of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi (1975-80), Research Professor, Centre for Policy Research (1992-96), Co-Director and Director, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (1996-2003). Currently he is Research Professor at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. He has several books to his credit.

Suba Chandran is Assistant Director at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi. He is currently a Visiting Fellow at the South Asian Strategic Stability Unit (SASSU), Department of Peace Studies,University of Bradford. His research interests include Pakistan, Kashmir, Indo-Pak relations and terrorism. He is currently working on a study at the IPCS titled India's Security Problematique; and another joint study titled Indo-Pak Conflicts: Ripe to Resolve? along with a Pakistani scholar.