Biological Warfare

Gujarat police’s recent seizure of four kg of castor-bean mash, which is used to extract ricin, marks India’s first confirmed seizure of the bio-toxin intended for subversive purposes.

Abstract The weaponisation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been a new element in twenty-first century warfare where ‘biowarfare’ is no exception. Active research has been taking place on… Continue reading Role of Internet of Things in Biological Warfare

In July 2019, a rare event occurred in Canada, whereby a group of Chinese virologists were forcibly dispatched from the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg, a facility they… Continue reading China’s Biological Warfare Programme and the Curious Case of Dr. Xiangguo Qiu

History Ricin is a protein, naturally synthesized by the castor bean plant. The castor bean contains 3- 5% of Ricin in it. It was discovered by Stillmark first in 1888… Continue reading Ricin: Feral Wolf to Hunting Dog!

Preface I teach a graduate seminar course at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey titled “Chemical and Biological Weapons and Arms Control.” Last semester a student asked me,… Continue reading Yersinia pestis, Biological Warfare, and Bioterrorism

This study attempts to profile China’s biological warfare programme (BWP), with special reference to biological weapons (BW) capabilities that exist in facilities affiliated with the defence establishment and the military. For that purpose, a wide variety of facilities affiliated with the defence establishment and with the military are reviewed and profiled. The outcome of that analysis points at 12 facilities affiliated with the defence establishment, plus 30 facilities affiliated with the PLA, that are involved in research, development, production, testing or storage of BW.

Of the triad of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons that have been the focus of attention followed by chemical weapons. But it must be remembered that there is an… Continue reading The Emerging Biological Weapons Threat and Proliferation

In December 2006 the States Parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), in the Final Document of their Sixth Five-Year Review Conference, agreed, in regard to Article IV… Continue reading Building a BTWC Education Module for Life Scientists

Biological weapons are termed as “Poor man’s nuclear bomb” as they require less sophistication when compared to that of nuclear weapons making it easier and cheaper to produce and use.… Continue reading Global Health Security for Collaborative Countering of Bio-threat Agents and Infectious Diseases