PNNL

Abstract

The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC), to which the United States (U.S.) is a State Party, is an important international agreement aimed at reducing the threat of biological warfare. Unlike the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), however, there is no mechanism for ensuring compliance with the BWC. Since 1994, an Ad Hoc group of States Parties to the BWC has met periodically in Geneva, Switzerland with the aim of developing a legally binding protocol that could monitor compliance with BWC. In order to facilitate an understanding of the potential impact of mandatory BWC declaration requirements on academic institutions, we conducted a survey of 1,500 U.S. academic institutions designed to examine potential declaration "triggers" -- conditions that would mandate filing an annual declaration. We wanted to gain understanding of the universe of academic facilities and activities that might require declaration under a future legally binding compliance protocol.