Why in the news?Â
At the Conference on 50 Years of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) held in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar warned that global biological threats—natural, accidental, or deliberate are growing due to rapid scientific advances. He emphasised the rising risks of bioterrorism and highlighted structural weaknesses in the BWC.
About the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC)
- Came into force: 1975
- Objective: Prohibits development, production, acquisition, stockpiling & use of biological and toxin weapons.
- Depositaries: Russia, UK, USA
- India: Founding State Party
Structural Gaps Jaishankar Highlighted
- No verification/compliance mechanism
- No permanent technical secretariat
- No system to monitor new scientific developments
- Reliance on voluntary confidence-building measures (CBMs)
Rising Biological Threat Landscape
- Misuse of biological agents by non-state actors is a serious concern.
- Emerging technologies increasing risks:
- Synthetic biology
- Genome editing (CRISPR)
- AI-driven biological design
India’s Strengths in Biosecurity
- Produces 60% of global vaccines
- Supplies 20% of world’s generic medicines (including 60% for Africa)
- 11,000 biotech startups (3rd largest globally; 50 in 2014 → 11,000 now)
- Advanced BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs under ICMR & DBT
India’s Global Health Contributions
- Vaccine Maitri: ~300 million vaccine doses, aid to 100+ countries
- Stressed that biological crisis assistance must be “fast, practical and humanitarian”
| Which one of the following is associated with the issue of control and phasing out of the use of ozone-depleting substances? (2015)
(a) Bretton Woods Conference (b) Montreal Protocol (c) Kyoto Protocol (d) Nagoya Protocol |
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