Strategic Priorities 2011–2015: Responding to the Public Health Challenges of the 21st Century

“FDA’s mission to protect and promote the public health is more critical than ever. We are positioned at a challenging moment in history and the demands of the 21st century are unprecedented. Together, we must prepare to meet those demands and usher science, public health, and FDA into a new era.

In that spirit, we have developed the following Strategic Priorities document, which outlines the goals and priority areas that will guide our agency through the next five years and beyond. It’s no secret that FDA’s responsibilities have increased significantly over the past several years. To fulfill the mandates of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009, the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011, and to meet the continuing challenges of regulating in a global market, we must fully commit ourselves to the agency’s fundamental mission and to the scientific and public health principles that inform all of our decisions.”

Author:
United States Food & Drug Administration
Publish Date:
April 2011

Strategies to Educate Amateur Biologists and Scientists in Non-life Science Disciplines About Dual Use Research in the Life Sciences

In addition to its standing charge to advise on strategies and tools to promote awareness of the dual use issue in the life sciences community generally, the U.S. government charged the Board with developing recommendations for promoting awareness of the dual use issue among two non-traditional audiences for these efforts: (1) scientists trained in non-life science fields who collaborate in the life sciences on such endeavors and synthetic biology, and (2) amateur biologists who pursue life science research as an avocation and whose activities are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Toward that end, the NSABB has developed a report that presents a series of observations about the special characteristics of these communities and pairs them with recommendations for specially tailored strategies for awareness building.

Author:
National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity
Publish Date:
June 2011

Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention

This paper examines the UK Green Paper and analyses the proposals identified in the paper with particular attention to the five specific areas identified by the UK for immediate action. The objective of this Green Paper is to outline the nature of the threat posed to international security by BW, review the arms control efforts to which the UK has contributed over the last decades to combat this threat, and to describe some possible measures that the UK might pursue to strengthen the BTWC and counter the threat from B It is concluded that the proposals included in the UK Green Paper provide a possible basis that could attract consensus support at the resumed Fifth Review Conference to form the basis for further consideration at subsequent meetings of the States Parties.

Author:
University of Bradford School of Social and International Studies
Publish Date:
2002

Structure and Important Recommendations of the Fink Report: An African Perspective

By Ochieng Austin Aluoch

This monograph is a treatise of the Fink Report resulting from the author’s participation in an online course on ‘Teaching Applied Dual­Use Biosecurity Education’ at School of Social and International Studies, University of Bradford, UK.

Author:
University of Nairobi & University of Bradford
Publish Date:
2011

Synthetic Biology Applications Inventory

New technologies are often defined by a few iconic examples that capture the public imagination. While nanotechnology was defined in the early days by its applications like stain-resistant clothing and sunscreens, it took longer to realize that nanoscale science and engineering were having pervasive impacts across multiple economic sectors and products and creating significant potential for improvements in costs and efficiency.

Synthetic biology has so far been associated with a few limited applications, but this initial inventory provides a glimpse of its impact on multiple sectors, including energy, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and food. The real power of synthetic biology may be creating a field of knowledge critical to the design of new technologies and manufacturing processes in general.

Author:
Synthetic Biology Project
Publish Date:
Aug 8 2012