Law in the Time of Anthrax Dr Christian Enemark Centre for International Security Studies University of Sydney
Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine Seminar Series 4-6 pm, 12 March 2009 K25 Auditorium (Medical Foundation Building) Abstract In 2009 Australia will adopt a new scheme to regulate the possession, handling, transfer and disposal of so-called security-sensitive biological agents¹. The scheme is modelled on U.S. select agents¹ regulations which were strengthened after the anthrax attacks of late 2001. Laboratory research on pathogenic micro-organisms is a difficult subject of security-oriented attention because, on the one hand, it vitally informs medical and public health responses to infectious disease threats of natural or deliberate origin. On the other hand, biological agents, and the knowledge of what makes them dangerous, can be diverted and used for malign purposes. Drawing on U.S. experiences, this presentation explores some of the dilemmas which arise when a government chooses to securitize¹ infectious disease threats using regulatory mechanisms. The challenge for biosecurity regulation, implemented to address concerns about biological weapons use, is to maximise security benefits while minimising interference with legitimate scientific research conducted for therapeutic ends. Biography Dr Christian Enemark is Lecturer in the Centre for International Security Studies, University of Sydney. Prior to completing a PhD in international relations at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, he worked as a policy officer in the Attorney General¹s Department of New South Wales. After joining the University of Sydney in 2007 he became a Visiting Fellow at the ANU John Curtin School of Medical Research, and was appointed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to serve on the National Consultative Committee on International Security Issues. Since 2008 Christian has served as Director (Sydney) of the National Centre for Biosecurity, a collaboration of ANU and the University of Sydney. He is an Associate Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Policing and Security, and Chief Investigator for a three-year ARC project on Infectious Disease, Security and Ethics¹.
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