Brussel wil debat over bestrijding bio-terrorisme (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission is launching an EU-wide debate on what type of joint action the bloc should take to prevent the risk of biological materials and pathogens being used by terrorists.

Presenting the paper on Wednesday (11 July), Commissioner Franco Frattini, in charge of security issues, admitted that the threat of bio-terrorism is statistically low but that its consequences could be "devastating".

"I couldn't tell my daughter that the risk doesn't exist," he said, adding he could not be more specific about the commission's "sensitive intelligence information" on the subject because he did not want to "give indication to possible suspect people".

The commissions' paper points out that with the open borders inside the union and the global transport of goods, terrorists could get hold of materials that could potentially infect people and animals or contaminate soil and buildings.

EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou stressed that such attacks could happen simultaneously in several member states which is the main problem the new strategy aims to tackle.

As an example of bio-terrorism, he highlighted the criminal use of anthrax, such as those witnessed after the 9/11 attacks in the US when ten cases of inhalation of the toxic substance were confirmed.

Meanwhile, the accidental spread of dangerous biological materials could come about with "laboratory accidents or other inadvertent releases of disease agents and pathogens".

The two commissioners suggested the EU's member states should join forces in a bid to prevent and respond to both types of risks in a coordinated fashion, particularly by improving security measures and safety standards.

They argued a boost in the existing measures such as peer evaluations would be strongly favoured over proposing new laws and institutions but at the same time mooted a creation of a European Bio-Network.

The new advisory body on "bio-preparedness" would pull together various experts from the research community, security and intelligence agencies as well as civil protection authorities who could recommend codes of conduct for researchers dealing with bio-materials.

The bloc already has some common legislation in the area but there are concerns about its practical implementation, as well as about weak detection capabilities of national authorities.

A list of new rules could include more stringent standards for security at facilities housing non-military collections of pathogens, a European certification system for facilities and researchers in the area as well as security clearance for some bio-researchers.