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By Category: International

No Big Summit Needed for Achieving Biological Security: Key Diplomat

(GSN Daily News) WASHINGTON — The Biological Weapons Convention does not require a seminal event on par with the ongoing Global Nuclear Security Summit process in order to gain sufficient political attention from world leaders, according to the chairman of the treaty’s upcoming review conference (see GSN, June 20). (Jul. 1) – Paul van den Read More »

July 5, 2011
| Filed under Europe, North America, Biological Weapons, International, and Policy & Initiatives
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Rinderpest, Scourge of Cattle, Is Vanquished

(New York Times) On Tuesday in a ceremony in Rome, the United Nations is officially declaring that for only the second time in history, a disease has been wiped off the face of the earth. The disease is rinderpest. Everyone has heard of smallpox. Very few have heard of the runner-up. That’s because rinderpest is Read More »

June 29, 2011
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, Agriculture, International, and Public Health
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Rinderpest eradicated – what next?

(FAO News) FAO’s member countries have officially recognized global freedom from rinderpest, the deadly cattle virus. They called on the world community to ensure that samples of rinderpest viruses and vaccines be kept under safe laboratory conditions and that rigorous standards for disease surveillance and reporting be applied.

June 28, 2011
| Filed under Agriculture, International, and Public Health
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UN lauds international cooperation in eradicating deadly cattle plague

(UN News Centre) The lessons learned from the elimination of rinderpest, a deadly cattle plague that has threatened the livelihoods of herders and rural families for millennia, can be applied to tackling other major challenges, such as hunger and extreme poverty, a senior United Nations official said today. Jacques Diouf, the Director-General of the Food Read More »

June 27, 2011
| Filed under Europe, North America, Agriculture, International, and Policy & Initiatives
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U.S. Considers Alternatives to BWC Verification Protocol

(GSN Daily News) A senior U.S. diplomat said the Obama administration remains opposed to a verification protocol for the Biological Weapons Convention but is open to other measures that would strengthen confidence in the disease nonproliferation regime, Arms Control Today reported in its June edition (see GSN, April 12). (Jun. 20) – U.S. special representative Read More »