Malcolm Dando | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

European biosecurity efforts fall short

Malcolm Dando — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:43:48 -0600

The European Commission is on the right path among government institutions in putting issues of biosecurity and biosafety on the public agenda, yet even their efforts demonstrate how far governments have to go.

Making the dual-use problem a "piece of cake"

Malcolm Dando — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:51:00 -0600

Some academic conferences are encouraging because progress is being made in a field. Others are daunting because of the amount of work that clearly still needs to be done. The conference I attended in the beginning of June, on "Dual Uses of Biomedicine: Whose responsibility?" left me feeling both encouraged and daunted.

Raising life scientists' awareness

Malcolm Dando — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:04:00 -0600

In April 1980, the Bulletin published an article by former intelligence analyst Henry T. Nash titled "The Bureaucratization of Homicide." (The article was subsequently reprinted in E. P. Thompson's Protest and Survive.) In the article, Nash reflected on his experiences as a nuclear targeting planner in the U.S.

Missed opportunities at the chemical weapons treaty meeting

Malcolm Dando — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:08:00 -0600

Prior to the Chemical Weapons Convention's (CWC) Second Review Conference last month, several attempts were made to raise the issue of the potential for incapacitating chemical agents to skirt the convention's rules. Despite these efforts, when the convention adjourned in mid-April, little had been done to address the issue.

Getting scientists involved in arms control

Malcolm Dando — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:13:00 -0600

Earlier this month Macedonian Amb. Georgi Avramchev addressed the "Second International Forum on Biosecurity" in Budapest and stressed the importance of including scientists and scientific organizations in the proceedings of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC). Delegations at BWC meetings have always included scientific experts, but Avramchev confirmed what many in attendance knew to be true, that scientists had not always been given the time or opportunity to contribute their expertise adequately.

The Dutch experiment with a biosecurity code of conduct

Malcolm Dando — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:00:00 -0600

In recent years, scientists and security experts have advocated for codes of conduct as a means to prevent the modern life sciences from being misused for hostile purposes--the so-called dual-use problem. But how exactly would such codes work, and how would they be received by the scientific community? The implementation of a code of conduct in the Netherlands in mid-2007 serves as an example of what can be expected.