A Survey of Priorities and Impediments for a Biosecurity Code of Conduct as a Confidence Building Measure for the Biological Weapons and Toxins Convention

Abstract

The Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC), signed in 1972, is the express sense of 162 nations that as a world community, we agree to the end of the use of biological weapons by state parties. However, the increasing numbers of biological, pharmaceutical and public health facilities, coupled with the biotechnology revolution in the latter part of the 20th century, made the development of preventative code of conduct a priority. Biosafety and biosecurity codes of conduct became a topic for consideration by the BTWC in 2005. To develop this new focus, the BTWC conference held a series of expert meetings culminating with the 2011 Review Conference.Codes of conduct encourage a community approach to formulate acceptable, effective, and reasonably related principles in order to achieve its goals. In order to achieve a collective definition of the priorities or impediments for a biosecurity code of conduct among the representatives of the States Parties, a survey was designed. The survey instrument was designed to be answered during one of the days of the regular intersessional Meetings of Experts of the BTWC on August 27, 2009. This article provides a review and assessment of results of this survey.