Dual Use and Dual Use Research of Concern : Political Implications

It is perhaps not generally known that the first draft of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention proposed in 1969 also included a ban on offensive research. However, no explicit provision was integrated in the final text agreed in September 1971. This dearth of regulation entails heavy consequences in the management of present advances in life science. This lecture is aimed at offering a sketch of the problem from its very outset and at presenting international efforts to cope with such initial breach.