Navigating global governance, national strategies, and ethics in biowarfare

This paper has been authored by Shravishtha Ajaykumar.

Biological weapons can come from naturally occurring microbes and viruses; but innovations in genomic editing are opening up new, potentially more threatening avenues for their development. These innovations can cause or spread disease or resist known therapeutic approaches. Addressing such threats of biowarfare requires obtaining reliable and informative taxonomies for the pathogens and timely and effective responses. This, in turn, calls for coordinated efforts between physicians, policymakers, representatives in defence, the public health community and the private sector. This paper discusses the historical and contemporary landscape of biowarfare, and outlines global and national efforts to govern and address innovations in biowarfare due to rapidly emerging technology. It ponders how India can leverage the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue to enhance disarmament efforts and promote ethical considerations for bioweapons innovation.

International Relations

The term ‘biotechnology’ can refer to any of its various use cases in agriculture, climate management, DNA studies, and many other domains with human life at the core of innovation. It is a field of technology aimed at domains such as improving human health, environmental protection, preservation of biodiversity, scientific innovation, and improved agriculture. In 2005, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Ad Hoc Statistics Group on Biotechnology defined ‘biotechnology’ as the application of science and technology for parts, products, and models of living organisms for application in goods, services, research and development. These definitions were expanded to include DNA/RNA, proteins and other molecules, cell and tissue culture and engineering, processing of biotechnologies, gene and RNA vectors, bioinformatics, and nanobiotechnology.

In the field of security, biotechnology research is a vast space, embracing goals such as providing healthy food for soldiers, increasing preparedness in natural disasters and emergencies, and deploying emergency healthcare. Biotechnology has contributed to the enhancement of human life in many ways, but like many innovations, provokes a dual-use dilemma: While biotechnology can assist in improving healthcare and food security, the same technology can be used to perpetuate harm or the threat of harm for geopolitical and strategic purposes—or what is known as biowarfare. ‘Biowarfare’ refers to the intentional use of biological agents (e.g., bacteria, viruses, fungi, and toxins) as weapons in war scenarios.

This paper focuses on the use of biological agents in warfare and describes historical instances of biological weapon use and emerging technologies with future use potential. It highlights governing structures, outlines India’s perspective of biowarfare, and explores how the country can leverage its multilateral alliances to enhance biological weapons deterrence.

The paper can be accessed by clicking here.

This paper has been authored by Shravishtha Ajaykumar.