The 2nd International Forum on Biosecurity: Summary of an International Meeting (2009)

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Katherine Bowman, Jo L. Husbands, and Ben Rusek, Rapporteurs Committee on International Outreach Activities on Biosecurity Development, Security, and Cooperation Board on International Scientific Organizations Policy and Global Affairs 

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS  500 Fifth Street, N.W.  Washington, DC 20001 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Gov- erning Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engi- neering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This project was supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Additional funds were provided to support the Forum by the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues, the International Union of Microbiological Societies, and the International Union of Biochemistry and Molec- ular Biology. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project. International Standard Book Number-13:  978-0-309-12829-2 International Standard Book Number-10:  0-309-12829-3 Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, D.C. 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap. edu. Suggested citation: National Research Council. 2009. The 2nd International Forum on Biosecurity: Summary of an International Meeting, Budapest, Hungary, March 30 to April 2, 2008. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. Copyright 2009 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America 

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Committee on International Outreach Activities on Biosecurity Members Michael T. Clegg (Chair), University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA Gail H. Cassell, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, USA Hernan Chaimovich, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Roderick J. Flower, William Harvey Research Insitute, Queen Mary, University of London, London, UK David R. Franz, Midwest Research Institute, Frederick, MD, USA Andrzej Górski, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland Indira Nath, Blue Peter Research Centre, Hyderabad, India Barbara A. Schaal, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA Leiv Sydnes, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway Staff Katherine Bowman, Program Officer, Board on International Scientific Organizations Kathrin Humphrey, Christine Mirzayan Policy Fellow Jo L. Husbands, Senior Project Director, Program on Development, Security, and Cooperation Ben Rusek, Associate Program Officer, Committee on International Security and Arms Control  



Preface and Acknowledgements The 2nd International Forum on Biosecurity, held in Budapest, Hun- gary, on March 30–April 2, 2008, represents the efforts of a number of individuals and organizations, over the last five years, to engage the international community of life scientists in addressing how to reduce the risk that the results of their work could be used for hostile purposes by terrorists and states. The participants who gathered in Budapest were already engaged in this challenging task, and, therefore, the focus of the meeting was on what had been accomplished and what challenges remained. There was no attempt to achieve consensus, since there exist real and important differences among those involved concerning the appropriate policies and actions to be undertaken. But there was a seri- ous effort to identify a range of potential next steps, and also an effort to identify opportunities where international scientific organizations could make substantive contributions and offer their advice and expertise to policy discussions. The Forum’s presentations, discussions, and results are summarized in this document. The Forum also presented an opportunity to continue collaborations and partnerships developed over the years and to forge new ones. The U.S. National Academies provided the services of the conference secre- tariat, but many individuals contributed to the Forum’s planning and implementation. We were fortunate to have five important international scientific organizations as co-conveners of the Forum: the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues (IAP), the InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP), the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS), the vii 

viii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), and the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS). In addition, the members of the committee appointed by the National Research Council (NRC) under the chairmanship of Michael Clegg, Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences (see p. v), provided advice about the agenda, speakers, and participants and served important roles during the meeting. The Forum co-conveners, in particular the members of the Biosecurity Working Group of the InterAcademy Panel—Li Huang from the Chinese Academy, Sergio Pastrana from the Cuban Academy, Gabriel Ogunmola from the Nigerian Academy, Koos van der Bruggen from the Royal Netherlands Academy, and Nick Green and Neil Davison from the Royal Society also provided advice and suggestions and took on key tasks during the Forum. Beyond their valuable substantive suggestions, the IAP, the IUMS, and the IUBMB provided funds to support the travel of participants from developing countries. Working with all these col- leagues was a privilege. We also benefitted greatly from the support of the Hungarian Acad- emy of Sciences, which served as the host of the 2nd Forum. The mem- bers of the Office for International Cooperation—Janos Pusztai, director, Katalin Hajos, deputy director, and Judit Szász, program manager—were endlessly helpful and exceptionally gracious hosts. Ms. Szász performed wonders to help some of our participants obtain their visas and we would like to express our gratitude and theirs. We also would like to express our deep appreciation for the contribu- tions of Kathrin Humphrey, who worked on the project as part of her ser- vice as a Christine Mirzayan Policy Fellow. Her superb organizing skills, endless patience with the myriad details of an international meeting, and thoughtful contributions to the development of the program had a great deal to do with the success of the meeting. We were fortunate to have her as a colleague. Members of the NRC committee and the leaders of the co-convening organizations served as chairs of the plenary sessions, an important task that was much appreciated. We also wish to thank the chairs and rap- porteurs of the three working groups—Leiv Sydnes and Alastair Hay, David Franz and Neil Davison, and Angelo Azzi and Ralf Trapp. They helped each of the working groups achieve substantial results and their presentations to the final plenary sessions were the foundation for the summaries of the working groups that we have prepared. The statements made in this summary are those of individual speakers or working group members and do not necessarily represent positions of the National Acad- emies, the organizing committee, or all workshop participants. We would like to extend our special thanks to Ambassador Georgi Avramchev of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Macedonia to 

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix the United Nations Office at Geneva and Chair of the 2008 Meetings of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). Ambassador Avramchev attended the entire Forum and gave an informative plenary address; he also participated actively in the working groups and plenary discussions. The attention that the BWC intersessional process has given to dual use issues and the roles and responsibilities of scientists have contributed enormously to the efforts to engage national and international scientific organizations in biosecurity issues. Finally, we wish to acknowledge the contributions of all the partici- pants in the Forum. Their engagement in the topics and willingness to share experiences and ideas were essential to the success of the meeting. We have attempted to capture at least a portion of their contributions in this summary, but we cannot do justice to the breadth and variety of what they provided. This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with pro- cedures approved by the National Academies’ Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for quality and objectivity. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report: David Friedman, Institute for National Security Studies and Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities; Katsuhisa Furukawa, Japan Science and Technology Agency; Robert Mikulak, U.S. Department of State; ­Kathryn Nixdorff, University of Darmstadt; Alan Pearson, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation; Graham Pearson, University of Bradford; and Carrie Wolinetz, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Although the reviewers listed above have provided many construc- tive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the con- tents, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authors and the institution. Katherine Bowman, Jo L. Husbands, and Ben Rusek ������������� The National Academies 



Contents 1 Background 1 Introduction, 1 Development of the Issue, 3 The Role of the Scientific Community, 6 The “Language Barrier”: Issues of Terminology, 8 Development of Scientific Engagement, 9 Early Initiatives: Setting the Stage, 9 2005 as a Turning Point, 13 Developments between 2005 and 2008, 18 Summary, 21 2 Plenary and Working Group Presentations and Discussions 23 Summary of Plenary Presentations, 23 Summary of Breakout Sessions, 35 3 Major Themes and Next Steps 65 Concluding Plenary Discussions, 65 Major Themes, 66 Greater Collaboration Among International Scientific Organizations, 68 Conclusion and Adjournment of the Forum, 69 References 71 xi 

xii CONTENTS Appendixes A Committee Member Biographies 77 B Agenda and Participant List 85 C Examples of Projects and Initiatives 97