The Role of Biotechnology in Countering BTW Agents

1. The Role of Biotechnology in Protection Against BTW Agents: Post-Exposure Treatment

   1. The Post Exposure Prophylactic Measures Against Viral BTW Agents

      • Sergey V. Netesov

      Pages 247-256

   2. Search of Biotechnology-Based Decontaminants for C/BW Agents

      • R. Dierstein, H.-U. Glaeser, A. Richardt

      Pages 257-265

2. The Impact of Biotechnology on Politico-Military and Normative Efforts to Counter BTW Agents

   1. Biotechnology and Politico-Military Responses to BTW Agents

      • Malcolm R. Dando

      Pages 267-283

   2. Biotechnology and the Development of Norms Against BTW Agents

      • Alexander Kelle

      Pages 285-297

3. Back Matter

   Pages 299-314

   PDF

Biotechnology is vital to counter biological and toxin weapons. Without biotechnology, the detection, identification and diagnoses of, and medical countermeasures to such weapons would be virtually impossible. As biological and toxin agents occur in natural outbreaks of disease or intoxications, there are both civil and military benefit to be had from the use of biotechnology in providing effective countermeasures to such agents.
The role of biotechnology in countering biological and toxin weapons is here addressed under seven major headings:

• The wider political and economic contexts;
• Enabling technologies for BTW agent detection;
• The applicability of biotechnological methods for BTW agent detection on the battlefield, in a terrorist incident, and in an inspection environment;
• Pre-exposure medical countermeasures;
• Diagnosis and identification;
• Post-exposure treatment and decontamination;
• Contribution of biotechnology to strengthening international conventions against BTW agents.

• Biosensor
• DNA
• biotechnology
• genes
• reaction

• Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

  Alexander Kelle

• Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK

  Malcolm R. Dando

• Institute for Microbiology and Genetics, Technical University Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

  Kathryn Nixdorff

Policies and ethics