Global Health. 2009 Feb 16;5:3. doi: 10.1186/1744-8603-5-3.
In December 2008, the US Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, released a report, World At Risk. The Report points to the fact that, not only is the use of a weapon of mass destruction in a terrorist attack before the end of 2013, more likely than not, but also to the fact that terrorists are more likely to be able to obtain and use biological weapons than nuclear. This paper examines the recommendations of the report in the context of the historic and geopolitical changes, in particular globalization. The authors highlight the "dual-use" dilemma, as described in the report, as the paradoxical use of technology developed for the benefit of mankind being used for sinister purposes. The mitigation of such a threat lies in broad stakeholder involvement and cooperation, including non-state actors, governments and the bio-tech industry itself. The importance of vigilance measures within the life science community is emphasized and, the authors propose, could include a web-based didactic course in bioterrorism and weapons of mass destruction identification. The site could outline safety protocols, have detailed disaster management tutorials, and could be specifically tailored for different subsets of industry and health professionals. The paper concludes with an endorsement of a multi-pronged approach including strong international guidelines and intelligence cooperation and preparatory measures such as the wide-spread use of detection systems as well as diagnostic decision support systems for bioterrorism detection at the local level.
2008 年 12 月，美国防止大规模杀伤性武器扩散和恐怖主义委员会发布了一份报告，题为《世界处于危险之中》。报告指出，不仅在 2013 年底之前，恐怖分子极有可能使用大规模杀伤性武器进行袭击，而且恐怖分子更有可能获得和使用生物武器而不是核武器。本文在历史和地缘政治变化的背景下，特别是全球化的背景下，研究了报告中的建议。作者强调了报告中描述的“两用”困境，即人类为了自身利益而开发的技术被用于邪恶目的的矛盾用法。减轻这种威胁的关键在于广泛的利益相关者的参与和合作，包括非国家行为者、政府和生物技术产业本身。本文强调了生命科学界保持警惕的重要性，并提出可以包括一个基于网络的生物恐怖主义和大规模杀伤性武器识别教学课程。该网站可以概述安全协议，提供详细的灾难管理教程，并可以根据行业和卫生专业人员的不同子集进行专门定制。本文最后赞同采取多管齐下的方法，包括制定强有力的国际准则和情报合作，以及采取广泛使用探测系统和地方一级生物恐怖主义探测诊断决策支持系统等预备措施。
