Introduction
There is no one agreed-upon definition of biosecurity, but generally it can be understood as society’s collective responsibility to safeguard the population from the dangers presented by pathogenic microbes (Fidler and Gostin 2008, p. 4). Crucially, these dangers can arise from natural sources such as the emergence of a novel influenza virus whose pandemic potential is increased as a result of intensified global circuits of circulation and exchange. Or they can be released in deliberate acts via biological weapons and biological terrorism. In response to these threats, biodefense efforts utilize tools such as vaccines, therapeutics, and detection methods in coordination with data collection, analysis, and intelligence gathering to prevent or mitigate biological attacks against people and agriculture (Ryan and Glarum 2008, p. 19). In recent years, a whole panoply of unique institutions and organizations have been developed, primarily in the USA, along these lines. This has...
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Further Readings
Elbe, S. (2010). Security and global health. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Enemark, C. (2017). Biosecurity dilemmas: Dreaded diseases, ethical responses, and the health of nations. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Guillemin, J. (2005). Biological weapons: From the invention of state-sponsored programs to contemporary bioterrorism. New York: Columbia University Press.
Hoyt, K. (2015). Medical countermeasures and security. In S. Rushton & J. Youde (Eds.), Routledge handbook of global health security (pp. 215–225). Abingdon: Routledge.
Katona, P., Sullivan, J. P., & Intriligator, M. D. (Eds.). (2010). Global biosecurity. Abingdon: Routledge.
Lakoff, A., & Collier, S. (Eds.). (2008). Biosecurity interventions: Global health and security in question. New York: Columbia University Press.
Rushton, S., & Youde, J. (Eds.). (2015). Routledge handbook of global health security. Abingdon: Routledge.
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Long, C. (2019). Biosecurity and Biodefense. In: Romaniuk, S., Thapa, M., Marton, P. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Global Security Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74336-3_520-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74336-3_520-1
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