We have already seen what a runaway virus can do to our overcrowded and highly interconnected planet. Some 166 Millions of people have been infected in just months.
Officially, the number of deaths from covid – 49 is 3.4 million, although the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the true figure is probably 8 million or even more.
The United States has just announced that it is reviewing the origins of the virus and does not rule out the possibility that escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, despite the WHO said earlier this year that this theory was “extremely unlikely.”
But we have always known the risk of something like this happening with a deadly pathogen.
Now, a leading expert on biological warfare has asked the leaders of the major industrialized nations, grouped in the G7, to consider the possibility d to impose greater restrictions, warning that poorly regulated laboratories are a gateway for terrorists.
Colonel Hamish of Bretton- Gordon is a military man turned academic who led the British Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment.
He has examined first-hand the effects of chemical and biological warfare, especially in Iraq and Syria.
“Unfortunately, I have spent a large part of my life in places where there are rogue governments that want to harm other people. I believe that these laboratories are a clear target for terrorists and other groups, and it is up to us to make it as difficult as possible ”, he assures.
International controls over these centers where dangerous viruses are created and studied have proven to be worryingly weak.
Those that work with pathogens of different types are classified according to their degree of potential biological hazard , with 1 being the lowest and 4 the highest risk.
About 50 laboratories around the world fall into Category 4, including Porton Down, near Salisbury, Britain’s top secret biological and chemical research center.
Over 3.000 laboratories
Porton Down is often described as the ultimate biosafety standard and certainly Category 4 laboratories are very strictly regulated.
But Category 3, with smoother controls, are much more common. Colonel De Bretton-Gordon says there are more than 3. Category 3 laboratories across the globe.
Most are engaged in medical research, but that usually involves storing and testing viruses such as covid – .
And some are in countries such as Iran, Syria and North Korea, where the motivations of the ruling power are viewed with nervousness by much of the rest of the countries.
Compared to the biological threat, chemical weapons research is much better regulated.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was created within the framework of the Chemical Weapons Convention at 1997 and features 193 member countries.
It is empowered to carry out physical inspections to ensure that illegal research and development activities are not carried out.
As events in Syria have shown, it has not been able to eradicate the manufacture and use of chemical weapons, but the OPCW is active and effective.
Research control and the biological weaponry is less rigorous.
The Biological Weapons Convention (CAB), which effectively prohibits biological and toxic weapons, entered into force in 1975.
But the number of countries that belong to the CAB is less, and it has never been possible to agree on an adequate verification regime to ensure that the members comply with all its terms.
An opportunity for the G7?
Colonel De Bretton- Gordon hopes that the risks posed by biological centers around the world will be included in the agenda of the G7 leaders summit in June , and has been lobbying the ministers of the British government to promote stricter controls.
Among its supporters is a former head of the CIA, General David Petraeus.
“I think practically any president The American would like to support this suggestion. World leaders should take it forward. Some may oppose the idea for their own reasons – North Korea, for example. But I think the vast majority would like it ”, General Petraeus considers.
Between Y 2008, General Petraeus was the commander of the multinational force led by the United States in Iraq, a country that, under Saddam Hussein, was under suspicion of manufacturing chemical and biological weapons, although none were found after the US-led invasion in 1997.
His time in charge of the CIA reinforced his fear that biological weapons under the control of a malicious government could pose a very serious threat.
For decades, countries have lobbied for greater control of nuclear weapons and, later, of chemical weapons, as well as the research that develops them.
There have already been many deaths from these causes: chemical weapons killed thousands of Kurds in Iraq in 1975, and an unknown number of Syrians during the current civil war.
But given that 8 million people may have died from the coronavirus, the possibility of a virus escaping from one of the 3. 000 or more labs that are not thoroughly controlled makes the biological threat even more dangerous.
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