Varieties of Secrets and Secret Varieties: The Case of Biotechnology

2000 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Wright ◽  
David A. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Agriculture Industry ◽  
Biological Weapons Convention ◽  
The U.S

This article examines several trends that have combined to veil the new field of biotechnology in secrecy: the transformation of biotechnology from an essentially academic field characterized by strong norms of openness to a field with extensive corporate connections that have reached even to research in leading universities; the establishment of intellectual property rights for life-forms initiated by the landmark Supreme Court decision, Diamond vs. Chakrabarty; and the limiting of public access to information about the genetically altered organisms whose use in agriculture, industry, and medicine falls under government controls. The article also examines the effects of the U.S. biotechnology industry's demand for secrecy on the negotiations for a protocol to the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, particularly the turn from requirements for transparency to protection of opacity with respect to biotechnology and other biological processes, equipment, and production.

scholarly journals Coronavirus Is A Biological Warfare Weapon

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 01-06
Author(s):  
Robert Skopec
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
World Health ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Biological Warfare ◽  
University Of Illinois ◽  
College Of Law ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The University ◽  
Biological Weapons Convention ◽  
The U.S

Dr. Francis Boyle, who drafted the Biological Weapons Act has given a detailed statement admitting that the 2019 Wuhan Coronavirus is an offensive Biological Warfare Weapon and that the World Health Organization (WHO) already knows about it. Francis Boyle is a professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. He drafted the U.S. domestic implementing legislation for the Biological Weapons Convention, known as the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, that was approved unanimously by both Houses of the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush.

Inventory Control of Dual-Use Equipment

1995 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Franz
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Dual Use ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Biological Weapons Convention ◽  
The U.S

Proliferation of biological—as well as chemical and nuclear—weapons is a threat to the security of the U.S. in the post-Cold War era. The number of states with biological weapons (BW) programs or with a strong interest in having a BW program has increased significantly since the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was signed in 1972 (Office of Technology Assessment, 1993). BW programs present difficult intelligence targets. Thus, the Soviet Union was a signatory to the BWC at the time of the Sverdlovsk incident in 1979, yet we knew little of the scope of its BW program until 1991 (Meselson et al., 1994). The spread of biotechnology throughout the world in recent years has made even more governments potentially BW capable.

Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention: Comments on the Contributions of Marie Isabelle Chevier and Lynn Marvin Hansen

1990 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erhard Geissler
Keyword(s):  
Department Of Defense ◽  
Biological Weapon ◽  
Terrorist Group ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Biological Warfare ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military ◽  
Biological Weapons Convention ◽  
The U.S

In agreement with the overwhelming number of experts, I certainly share the view of Chevier and Hansen that the Biological Weapons Convention needs to be strengthened. Of course it is still a matter of discussion whether the military utility of biological and toxin weapons (hereafter, respectively, BW and TW) changed after the introduction of biotechnology. It is impossible, however, to ignore the 1986 statement of the U.S. Department of Defense (1988), that:… perhaps the most significant event in the history of biological weapons development has been the advent of biotechnology. It enables the development of new microorganisms and products with new, unorthodox characteristics… Conceptually, then, a nation or terrorist group can design a biological weapon to meet a variety of contingencies or needs… The break through and the subsequent achievements make biological warfare much more feasible and effective for countries which either are not bound by the convention or which choose to violate it.

scholarly journals Washington Hotline

2017 ◽  
Vol 78 (10) ◽  
pp. 571
Author(s):  
Gavin Baker
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Government Agency ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Government Printing ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Library Program ◽  
The Government ◽  
The U.S

Congress’ Committee on House Administration this year began examining Title 44 of the U.S. Code, which is the authority for the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and Government Publishing Office (GPO). This is an important opportunity for librarians to advocate for improvements to FDLP and public access to government information.FDLP was designed to ensure widespread and long-term public access to information produced by the federal government. The program is managed by GPO, formerly known as the Government Printing Office, a federal government agency that publishes information on behalf of all three branches of government.

scholarly journals Coronavirus Is A Biological Warfare Weapon

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Robert Skopec ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
World Health ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Biological Warfare ◽  
University Of Illinois ◽  
College Of Law ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The University ◽  
Biological Weapons Convention ◽  
The U.S

Dr. Francis Boyle, who drafted the Biological Weapons Act has given a detailed statement admitting that the 2019 Wuhan Coronavirus is an offensive Biological Warfare Weapon and that the World Health Organization (WHO) already knows about it. Francis Boyle is a professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. He drafted the U.S. domestic implementing legislation for the Biological Weapons Convention, known as the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, that was approved unanimously by both Houses of the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush.

Trends in Global Disarmament Treaties

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Casey-Maslen ◽  
Tobias Vestner
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
State Party ◽  
Chemical Weapons Convention ◽  
Support Mechanisms ◽  
Biological Weapons Convention ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Core Features

Abstract Since the adoption of the UN Charter, states have concluded numerous international disarmament treaties. What are their core features, and are there any trends in their design? This article discusses the five global disarmament treaties, namely the 1971 Biological Weapons Convention, the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention, the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions and the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It first considers how a broad set of prohibitions of activities with respect to specific weapons has evolved over time. Then, it analyses the treaties’ implementation and compliance support mechanisms as well as their procedural aspects regarding entry into force and withdrawal. This article finds that a pattern has developed over the last two decades to outlaw all and any use of weapons by disarmament treaty, without first instituting a prohibition on their use under international humanitarian law (IHL). It also finds that reporting obligations, meetings of States Parties and treaty-related institutions are generally created, either directly by treaty or by subsequent state party decisions. Finally, there is a tendency to make the treaty’s entry into force easier, and the withdrawal more difficult. It is argued that these trends arise from states’ attempt to establish more easily disarmament treaties, design more robust disarmament treaties and more effectively protect civilians. The article concludes by reflecting whether these trends form the basis of a new branch of international law—international disarmament law—and discusses them in the context of emerging weapons and technologies.

Book museums or virtual libraries

1994 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 4-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Phillpot
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Publishing ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Verbal Information ◽  
Foreseeable Future ◽  
Virtual Library ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Virtual Libraries

Although its replacement has not yet been fully developed, the traditional book is likely to be largely superseded in the foreseeable future by electronic publishing. Libraries will become book museums; with librarians as curators; many other librarians will find themselves dealing with unlimited and unpackaged information rather than with pre-packaged artefacts, in a role which will include facilitating and championing public access to information. The electronic ‘virtual library’ will encompass visual as well as verbal information; it will subsume art libraries except insofar as art libraries will become museums, but both the ‘virtual library’ and art libraries will continue to require the skills and vision of art librarians. Finally, in the short term, and perhaps indefinitely, the ‘virtual library’ and the ‘book library’ may not diverge to the extent of parting company altogether: the latter may continue to function as one gateway providing access to the latter.

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