Biosecurity

The growing pace of international commerce has created an increased risk of invasion by alien species, which often take root and thrive in their new environment, often at great costs for the local biota and economy. The risk of introduction of harmful organisms into the United States is increasing exponentially, with costs to the American economy measured in hundreds of billions of dollars. This report offers recommendations to improve biosecurity measures at US ports, as well as a possible funding mechanism based upon the polluter-pays principle.

The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) Annual Report 2019 provides an overview of IAP activities in 2019, with specific sections on activities by affiliated regional networks AASSA, EASAC, IANAS, and NASAC. It also gives evidence of IAP’s focus on providing science advice and promoting cooperation and capacity building among its membership - the world’s merit-based academies of science, medicine and engineering. It also reviews IAP's activities in such areas as science education and biosecurity.
You can find it online at https://www.interacademies.org/publication/iap-annual-report-2019.

I worry about caves. I’ve been worrying about them ever since reading about the role played by Kitum Cave in the known history of Marburg virus disease. In the 1980s, two separate visitors to this “elephant cave” in Mount Elgon National Park were infected and subsequently died. Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) have since been identified as a reservoir host for marburgviruses, and it may well be that the inhalation of microbes from bat guano was the means by which these unfortunate tourists contracted the deadly disease.

I’m also fascinated by caves: they’re contagious in more ways than one. The islands of the Zanzibar archipelago, with their extensive limestone reef terraces, are riddled with caves and sinkholes. They’re a distinctive feature of the coral rag or karst landscape of both Unguja and Pemba, though often hidden from sight by thick vegetation, especially along the forested scarps in the south and east of the main island. Many of the caves have cultural significance as mizimu, the abodes of spirits that are regularly propitiated by the local guardians who have inherited this responsibility.

In this working paper for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, I outline ways we that might augment our biosecurity governance system with a focus on the often overlooked point that all research is dual use, and most of it is not subject to security oversight. I begin by analyzing the assumptions about science, security, and their relationship to the state that underlie our current governance system, and show how those assumptions can be found in the NSABB’s (2007b) Responsible Communication of Life Science Research with Dual Use Potential. I show the limitations of these assumptions, and then propose an alternative set, that leads to radically different principles upon which we might base a system of constructing security concerns in the life sciences. I end by outlining how these principles can be practically implemented in a range of existing and novel governance mechanisms.

Using the example of bovine tuberculosis, this paper explores the emergence, understanding, and rejection of new forms of biosecurity. The paper argues that debates over biosecurity can be conceptualised as arguments over the ability to regulate flows of disease and the constructions of space they adopt. Data from parliamentary inquiries and interviews are used to show how attempts to institutionalise forms of biosecurity emerge from a delicate balance of prescribed and negotiated spaces configured by a host of social, natural, and material agents. The interaction between these spaces provides a way of regulating the flows of disease and purifying agricultural space. This balance is resisted by farmers, whose practical knowledges of the constant struggle of managing the contingencies of agriculture lead them to suggest that only uniform versions of space can effectively regulate flows of disease. The author concludes by discussing the importance of recognising these differences for future biosecurity and animal health policy.

The European Community regulations on genetically modified organisms
and novel foods come from a very wide range of origins, however it is
possible to identify four primary sources of law: the European Community Treaty, international law, secondary legislation, and decisions of the European Court of Justice. Regardless of their legal character, one common feature of those regulations is that the European Community pays particular attention to high level of food security, human health, animal welfare and environmental protection. All foodstuffs produced or imported to Member States have to meet strict requirements that guarantee access to safe and healthy food.
At the same time, principles of food law shouldn’t act as barriers to establishment or functioning of the Internal Market. Moreover, the European legislators should consider that new regulations cannot present constraint for technology development which constitutes one of the fundamental elements of the Lisbon Strategy (2000). It is necessary to merge social expectations of safe and healthy food with economic and political expectations of the European Community which is supposed to be a competitive participant of global economy based on knowledge.

Abstract: Pandemics have been suggested as global risks many times, but it has been shown that the probability of human extinction due to one pandemic is small, as it will not be able to affect and kill all people, but likely only half, even in the worst cases. Assuming that the probability of the worst pandemic to kill a person is 0.5, and assuming linear interaction between different pandemics, 30 strong pandemics running simultaneously will kill everyone. Such situations cannot happen naturally, but because biotechnology is developing analogously to Moore’s law, it may become possible in the near future (10-50 years from now), because of biohackers, CRISPR, bioprinters, AI-assisted DNA-programing, and weapons of “knowledge-enabled mass destruction” published on the Internet. It could also happened in case of large-scale biological war, or if a rogue country released its entire biological arsenal simultaneously. We also will address other scenarios and risk increasing factors as well as mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Within rural studies there have been few attempts to critically analyse crimes against nature. This paper addresses this gap by providing an analysis of farmers' reasons for illegally culling badgers in the United Kingdom. Drawing on Sykes and Matza's (1957) concepts of neutralisation and drift, the paper shows how farmers rationalise this activity. Using in-depth interviews with 61 farmers in the England and Wales, the paper shows how they justify badger culling through discursive strategies that claim the activity is necessary, deny the necessity of the law, condemning the condemners, and appealing to community loyalties The paper also shows that neutralisation helps identify contextual factors that allow farmers to drift ambiguously between deviant values and social norms. In the case of badger culling, drift is attributable to an attack on a particular rural identity and way of living that has left farmers perceiving their selves as an effect. As much as they are attempts to rationalise criminal behaviour, neutralisation techniques can also be seen as spatial discourses demarcating the boundaries of cultural and spatial identities. In conclusion, the paper discusses the implications for resolving the problems of wildlife crime.

Two methods of assessing the risk of species introduction by ballast water are discussed, species-specific and environmental similarity assessments, each for alignment with four proposed principles of risk-based resource management: (i) society accepts that low risk scenarios exist; (ii) risk assessment is capable of identifying low risk scenarios; (iii) risk mitigation strategies exist; and (iv) mitigation costs are less than the cost of performing risk assessment. All four principles were met in some circumstances for both methods. Species-specific ballast water risk assessment is best suited to situations where the assessment can be restricted to a limited set of harmful species on journeys within bioregions where ballast water is a small component of natural genetic exchange. Environmental similarity risk assessment is appropriate for journeys that start and end in locations which have very little or no natural genetic exchange, such as journeys between non-contiguous bioregions. Because a large number of species are not assessed individually, environmental match assessments necessarily will be restricted to fundamental variables such as temperature and salinity. A number of bioregion classifications have been identified in the world’s oceans, some of which at a scale that may be appropriate for ballast water management. The suitability of any particular classification, however, needs further examination.

Biosecurity is a major issue for agricultural based economies such as Australia and New Zealand. The paper provides a framework for biosecurity management strategies at the pre-border, border, and post-border stages of biosecurity threat. Issues of biosecurity are then examined in more detail with respect to the wine industry and wine tourism and one specific aspect of biosecurity control, the customs declaration form. A survey of wine tourists in New Zealand was conducted and it was noted that many of them did not recognise vineyards or wineries in the present descriptors used on the Australian and New Zealand customs declaration forms. Further questioning found that given the mobility of wine tourists that they posed significant biosecurity threats for wineries, many of which had no biosecurity strategy in place. The paper concludes that the utility of present customs declaration forms to the wine industry in New Zealand is questionable while also noting the need for biosecurity strategies to be adapted at a winery and vineyard level.

La información  reunida en el manual tiene por finalidad principal de orientar y facilitar el trabajo en operación y seguridad, para esto es  importante  comprender la importancia de integrar los conocimientos previos, y de reforzar aquellos necesarios que permitan analizar el tema en estudio y su relación con lo cotidiano, en toda actividad práctica no hay que olvidar la necesidad de seguir las medidas de seguridad e inculcar una cultura de protección frente a los riesgos biológicos, químicos, físicos, electromecánicos, entre otros, que están presentes. El propósito de elaborar un manual de prácticas es lograr una mejor planificación y organización tanto en docentes como estudiantes para tener una participación eficaz, los elementos que se deben considerar en el diseño son racionalidad, viabilidad, utilidad y claridad, todos ellos para facilitar la instrumentación de cada actividad práctica. Las buenas prácticas de laboratorio, taller o campo son procedimientos de organización y trabajo bajo los cuales los temas de estudio se planifican, realizan, controlan y registran. El objetivo es asegurar calidad y confiabilidad en todos los datos obtenidos durante un estudio determinado, y garantizar la seguridad de las personas. Conviene tener en cuenta que un buen procedimiento de trabajo es condición indispensable para la seguridad.
A lo largo del manual se va hacer referencia de todos los peligros y las normas de seguridad que contienen los laboratorios generales, clínico, de biología y químico, se va a identificar las evaluaciones del riesgo las cuales deben ser efectuadas por las personas que mejor conozcan las características peculiares de los organismos con los que se va a trabajar, el equipo y los procedimientos que van a emplearse. El director o investigador principal del laboratorio es el responsable de asegurar que se realicen de modo oportuno las evaluaciones del riesgo más apropiadas y de colaborar estrechamente con el comité de seguridad y el personal de bioseguridad del laboratorio, que se disponga del equipo y los medios apropiados para el trabajo que está previsto llevar a cabo. Una vez terminadas, las evaluaciones del riesgo deben ser consultadas periódicamente y revisadas cada vez que sea preciso (Maya, 2007).Por otro lado, el manual contara con las principales normas de seguridad que es la vestimenta y el equipo de protección personal que pueden actuar como barrera para reducir al mínimo el riesgo de exposición a aerosoles, salpicaduras e inoculación accidental, las prendas de vestir y el equipo que se seleccionen dependen de la naturaleza del trabajo que se realice. Las técnicas del laboratorio incorrectas y mal uso de equipos son la causa de la mayoría de los accidentes de laboratorio y las infecciones conexas, por lo tanto, todo laboratorio deberá establecer precauciones de seguridad acordes con el riesgo que contengan y es indispensable un plan escrito de medidas de contingencia para hacer frente a los accidentes en el laboratorio, para que el personal mantenga siempre presente las normas en  materia de seguridad es imprescindible organizar un programa de formación continua en el trabajo mediante capacitaciones sobre seguridad y salud. Los errores humanos y las practicas incorrectas de laboratorios, puede acarrear el hecho de contrarrestar la eficacia de las medidas y los aparatos que se utilicen para proteger al personal, por esta razón el elemento clave para prevenir accidentes de laboratorio e infecciones adquiridas es un personal preocupado por la seguridad y bien informado sobre la manera de reconocer y combatir los riesgos presentes en el laboratorio, por ende es importante la formación continua en el servicio acerca de medidas de seguridad (Montes, 2002). Es fundamental que cada servicio de laboratorio cuente con una política integral de seguridad, un manual de seguridad y programas de apoyo para su aplicación, la responsabilidad de todo ello incumbe normalmente al jefe del laboratorio, por lo que es muy conveniente que tenga conocimiento de las prácticas clínicas, biológicas, químicas y de laboratorio y de la seguridad, incluido el equipo de contención, así como de los principios de construcción técnica relacionados con el diseño, el funcionamiento y el mantenimiento de las instalaciones (Aleman, 2006). La elaboración de este manual se puede concebir como un proceso de innovación y desarrollo que obedece a una lógica técnico - racional. El material, elaborado por los estudiantes, se formula para garantizar un desarrollo fiel del plan de estudios basados en la bioseguridad, es un material elaborado de forma artesanal que podrá ser utilizado en el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje como un medio didáctico en el ámbito de salud y seguridad proporcionando información de métodos y procedimientos que se lleva a cabo, motivación e interés por temas de bioseguridad, la actuación frente a peligros inmersos que se encuentran en el laboratorio.

Depending on who you believe medical tourism is either the new wave of cheap international health care or a gross exaggeration of the extent of international travel flows. Potentially both are true! The presentation will focus on what we do and do not know about the extent of international medical tourism and its potential implications. A key issue will be that in many jurisdictions the actual extent of medical tourism is virtually unknown - a significant with obvious implications for managing any issues that may arise as well as good policy making. The presentation will move through this relative research vaccuum in an attempt to highlight the potential risks to public and personal health posed by medical tourism and some of the ethical issues involved as well as try to highlight some potential future directions for medical tourism, including the potential future "perfect storm" of increased tourism and international medical mobility, environmental change and increased antibiotic resistance.

The presentation largely builds on a forthcoming chapter in the The Elgar Handbook on Medical Tourism and Patient Mobility.


Bio:

C. Michael Hall is currently a Professor in the Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, University of Canterbury, Christchurch. He is also Docent in the Department of Geography, University of Oulu, Finland and has visiting professorships at Linneaus University, Sweden and the University of Finland. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa and an external examiner at the University of Mauritius. His PhD is in geography from the University of Western Australia and he has honorary doctorates from the faculty of arts, Umeå University, Sweden and the faculty of science, University of Oulu, Finland. Author or editor of over 70 monographs and over 450 chapters and refereed articles he has been working on various aspects on health and tourism since the early 1990s with more recent research also focusing on temporary mobility (AKA tourism), global environmental change, biosecurity, social marketing and behavioural change, innovation and regional development, food, and sustainability.

The neologism 'necrosecurity' describes the cultural idea that mass death among less grievable subjects plays an essential role in maintaining social welfare and public order. In the early months of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the United States, this perspective on the social value of death emerged in diverse contexts, particularly in claims that deaths were a necessary consequence of returning economies to normal. Necrosecurity discourse encourages audiences to perceive coronavirus fatalities as neither preventable nor exceptional, and to perceive themselves as facing little risk of infection or death. Overlooking the realities of infectious disease epidemiology, these accounts portrayed COVID-19 as a mild disease and imagined a population of robust and physically normative individuals who would survive an epidemic unscathed and ready to return to work. These appeals articulate with powerful cultural tropes of survivorship, in which statistical calculations of relative risk and life chances-ostensibly cited to inspire hope for an individual outcome-conceal a zero-sum calculus in which ill or susceptible individuals are pitted against one another. In contrast to the construct of biosecurity-the securing of collective life against risk-necrosecurity paradoxically imagines the deaths of vulnerable others as a means of managing shared existential dangers.

The potential phytosanitary importance of all named plant-parasitic nematode species was determined by evaluating available information on species characteristics, association with economically-important crop hosts, and ability to act as vectors of viruses or form disease complexes with other pathogens. Most named species of plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN) are poorly known, recorded from a single location only, not associated with economically-important crops, and not known to be associated with other plant disease organisms. However, 250 species from 43 genera fulfilled one or more of the criteria to be considered to present a phytosanitary risk. The genera and number of species (in parentheses) considered as posing phytosanitary risk included: Achlysiella (1), Anguina (8), Aphasmatylenchus (1), Aphelenchoides (12), Aphelenchus (1), Belonolaimus (2), Bitylenchus (3), Bursaphelenchus (4), Cactodera (3), Ditylenchus (8), Dolichodorus (1), Globodera (3), Helicotylenchus (7), Hemicriconemoides (3), Hemicycliophora (3), Heterodera (25), Hirschmanniella (5), Hoplolaimus (5), Ibipora (3), Longidorus (10), Macroposthonia (2), Meloidogyne (38), Merlinius (3), Nacobbus (1), Neodolichodorus (2), Paralongidorus (2), Paratrichodorus (11), Paratylenchus (3), Pratylenchus (24), Punctodera (3), Quinisulcius (3), Radopholus (5), Rotylenchulus (3), Rotylenchus (1), Scutellonema (5), Sphaeronema (1), Subanguina (3), Trichodorus (5), Tylenchorhynchus (8), Tylenchulus (2), Vittatidera (1), Xiphinema (15) and Zygotylenchus (1). For each of the 250 species main hosts and yield loss estimates are provided with an extensive bibliography. Of the 250 species, only 126 species from 33 genera are currently listed as regulated pests in one or more countries worldwide. Almost all of these 250 species were also associated with economically important crops and some also acted as vectors for viruses.

This essay summarizes what we know about the spread of Yersinia pestis today, assesses the potential risks of tomorrow, and suggests avenues for future collaboration among scientists and humanists. Plague is both a re-emerging infectious disease and a developed biological weapon, and it can be found in enzootic foci on every inhabited continent except Australia. Studies of the Black Death and successive epidemics can help us to prepare for and mitigate future
outbreaks (and other pandemics) because analysis of medieval plagues provides a crucial context for modern scientific discoveries and theories. These studies prevent us from stopping at easy answers, and they force us to acknowledge that there is still much that we do not understand.

Marine biological invasions have increased throughout the world’s oceans to the extent that no region is  considered ‘pristine’. At least 1781 species have been identified as introduced in marine or estuarine systems somewhere in the world. Many of these species have been introduced to several regions, inferring an ease of transport by human-mediated mechanisms. A substantial number of these species have either demonstrable or inferred impacts.
Marine species have been transported around the world in many ways, both intentionally and accidentally. Concern has typically focused on vessel traffic, specifically the transport of species in ballast water, which is used for trim and stability of commercial vessels. This led to the development of the International Maritime Organization’s International convention for the control and management of ship's ballast water and sediments that was adopted in 2004.
More recently, attention has shifted to species that attach to the external surfaces of vessels, including commercial, fishing, and non-trading vessels such as barges, dredges, tugs and recreational yachts. Such species are collectively known as biofouling.
Science-based risk assessment is a key element of Australia’s biosecurity system and underpins the nation’s biosecurity policies. However, there are currently no Australian regulatory measures for preventing the introduction of invasive marine species through biofouling.
The objective of this project was to conduct a risk assessment to identify and assess the biosecurity risk to Australia associated with the entry, establishment and spread of marine pest species as biofouling. This risk assessment is therefore intended to inform Australian Government policy development for continued management of marine pest risks as biofouling.
The risk assessment followed a five-step process:
• identifying endpoints
• identifying hazards
• determining consequences
• determining likelihood
• calculating risk.
Risk was evaluated across three identified endpoints:  inoculation, establishment and spread. International voyages to Australia were assessed for the risk they pose in relation to inoculation and establishment. Likelihood of domestic spread was assessed through analysis of domestic movement of international shipping, other domestic vessel movements/traffic and through natural means.
Key hazards for Australia were deemed to be those species with a recognised invasion history, but not currently known to be present in Australian waters. More than 1781 species that have been identified as being introduced to some region of the world were evaluated for their association with biofouling and transport pressure. Species association with biofouling was assessed on the basis of life history characteristics. Transport pressure was calculated as a function of the intersection between a species’
global distribution and the opportunities for transport calculated as a combination of the number of vessels arriving in Australia from regions where a species is present.
The consequence (or impact) was assessed for each species on four core values of environment, economic, social/cultural and human health, based on information derived from the literature. The vast majority of species had neither demonstrable nor inferred impacts stated in the published literature, significantly decreasing the ability to assess risk. For those species with available information about their consequence, risk was calculated as the product of likelihood and consequence. The result of this analysis was a restricted suite of 56 species that have a high probability of arrival into Australian waters and the potential to cause moderate to extreme impacts across one or more of the four core values if successfully introduced.

Risk assessment is a tool that has many applications in marine biosecurity. Its application to aquaculture has only recently moved from the protective standpoint of animal health (i.e. the World Organisation for Animal Health, OIE) to examining introduced species risks. Risks from aquaculture include use of non-native species as target stocks in aquaculture; the potential for introductions of hitchhiker (associate) species when importing new stocks; the use of non-native live, fresh or frozen feed stocks and the movement of aquaculture equipment. In contrast, the risks to aquaculture from marine bioinvasions from other sources (including other aquaculture operators) include pathogens, parasites, biofouling and harmful algal blooms. Herein, we present two types of risk assessment (non-probabilistic decision-trees and a qualitative/semi-quantitative
organism impact assessment) that are currently used in the marine biosecurity system in New Zealand and Chile, but are readily applicable to other introduced species risk scenarios. These methods do not rely on quantitative risk assessment methods because sufficient quantitative data are often lacking for introduced marine species work. However, quantitative data can be used within the assessments to identify likelihoods or consequence.

continuo descenso de estudios autópsicos a nivel mundial es una realidad y varias son las causas que lo
explican, entre las que destacamos como prioritarias: la creciente carga de trabajo de biopsias y citologías de
los patólogos que retrasa los informes finales de autopsia y los métodos diagnósticos cada vez más certeros
que presuponen como “innecesario” en muchas ocasiones el estudio autópsico.
Después de la exhaustiva actualización realizada en el Libro Blanco de 2015 sobre la autopsia en general,
en el Grupo de Trabajo de Autopsias hemos considerado pertinente abordar el tema de la Bioseguridad dado
su interés y repercusión en la práctica diaria asistencial, donde genera no pocos conflictos y dudas sobre
cómo abordar determinados estudios, medios necesarios y cualificación de equipos y personal.
Partimos de la base de que todos los riesgos inherentes a la práctica necrópsica son reales, por lo que
cada estudio debe considerarse siempre como potencialmente infeccioso y cumplir con todas las medidas
de bioseguridad que están perfectamente reguladas en la legislación vigente.
Así, en el primer artículo se aborda la bioseguridad en general, revisando y estableciendo los protocolos
adecuados con detalle. En el segundo artículo se trata y la bioseguridad durante la extracción del sistema
nervioso central en casos potencialmente sospechosos de infecciones por priones en centros que no son
de referencia.
De ésta forma, consideramos actualizado el tema de la seguridad, esperando que este capítulo ayude a
subsanar las dudas y a facilitar la toma de decisiones así como a implementar los medios adecuados en cada
Servicio de Anatomía Patológica para poder realizar nuestro trabajo de manera segura.

To implement a Biosecurity approach, governments should first identify and analyse the existing constellation of legal provisions covering the subject  areas of Biosecurity. At times this may not be easy as Biosecurity is often regulated in a plethora of parliamentary-level and subsidiary pieces of legislation of different natures, scopes and objects. The present study elaborates an orderly methodology to facilitate the review and assessment of national legal frameworks for Biosecurity. The methodology arises from work carried out in six pilot countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Uganda and Viet Nam – by national legal experts actively testing and refining the analytical tool.

The methodology set out in this study should enable a comprehensive evaluation of national laws and regulations covering the main subject areas of Biosecurity, comparing national rules with international requirements and providing an overall evaluation of the national regulatory framework vis-à-vis the objectives of Biosecurity. It is hoped that the methodology will be a useful tool for countries wishing to assess and develop updated legislation to  achieve a Biosecurity approach.

The study is an interdisciplinary analysis, on the borderline between medical sciences, ecology, anthropology, and Orthodox theology, of some of the most critical pandemics of the last century, their causes and effects on civilization. We briefly review important information on avian or swine influenza (A/H1N1, H2N2, H3N2, H5N1), on diseases triggered by SARS-CoV-1 coronavirus (SARS) and MERS-CoV beta-coro-navirus (MERS), and on the CoVid-19 pandemic, triggered by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. We also expose a series of explanations for the possible causes of these pandemics, which are related to (non) compliance with biosecurity rules - in mammal and poultry intensive breeding units, (insufficient) regulations on the wildlife market, and, in general, to an inadequate relationship with the resources of the living world. Some biosecurity norms from intensive animal zootechnics are discussed together with analyses that signal possible epidemiological risks that could occur in case of noncompliance with these norms. In regard to the wildlife market, 3 examples are presented: bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), palm tree civets (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and pangolins (manis javanica), while also gaining insight into some of the abusive practices related to these mammals, and the regions of the world where these practices occur. The spiritual perspective, offered by Christian theology, introduces the patristic reflections on the rationality of creation, in the light of the Incarnation of the Logos, and the spiritual way of relating to the living world that flows from it. Also, we briefly analyze some of the anomalies induced by conspiracy theories, currently rather vocal, which affect both the perception of reality, the reception of spiritual considera-tions, and the lesson of the results provided by science. We have identified some meanings, for all these situations dis-cussed, provided by Christian theology through authors such as Panayotis Nellas, Father Dumitru Stăniloae, and Olivier Clement. These meanings conclude the present analysis by reviewing many dangers that threaten our contemporary civilization (growing social inequities, pollution and waste, overexploitation of resources, misuse of technologies, etc.), emphasizing the need to rediscover and cultivate human interiority, for (re)gaining a  spiritual dimension of life, the only ones - in the vision of Christian spirituality - that can provide the premises for the rational reorganization of civilization.

Żywność genetycznie zmodyfi kowana oraz technologia stosowana przy jej produkcji niewątpliwie stanowią przedmiot kontrowersji oraz wywołanej nimi debaty społecznej. Proces społecznej akceptacji nowych rozwiązań technologicznych wykorzystywanych do produkcji żywności
wykazuje wiele cech zbieżnych z podobnymi procesami odnoszącymi się do innych kategorii technologii. Jednak specyfi ka tych pierwszych polega przede wszystkim na tym, że produkty wytworzone z ich zastosowaniem stanowią jedno z najważniejszych i niezbędnych do przetrwania dóbr dla każdego człowieka – żywność. Dlatego też obawy konsumentów oraz proces szacowania ryzyka zasługują na wyjątkową uwagę ze strony nie tylko przedstawicieli nauk przyrodniczych, ale również humanistów.  Biorąc pod uwagę zainteresowanie oraz kontrowersje, jakie budzi wykorzystanie organizmów genetycznie
zmodyfi kowanych w produkcji żywności, należy dokonać analizy czynników warunkujących percepcję nowych rozwiązań technologicznych, a także proces ich akceptacji przez konsumentów.
Analizie poddano takie czynniki jak percepcja ryzyka, społeczny odbiór nowych technologii, wpływ stosowanej terminologii w procesie komunikowania o ryzyku, znaczenie posiadanej wiedzy oraz dostęp
do informacji, uwarunkowania społeczno-demografi czne oraz zaufanie do podmiotów informujących o technologii. Następnie podjęto próbę sprawdzenia, które z wymienionych czynników mają wpływ na proces akceptacji żywności genetycznie zmodyfi kowanej w państwach członkowskich Unii Europejskiej, Stanach Zjednoczonych, Republice Południowej Afryki oraz Chińskiej Republice Ludowej.

We advocate an increased utilisation of script theory in rural social research and suggest this will enhance understandings of the social life of farmers and other rural residents. We define a script as a culturally shared expression, story or common line of argument, or an expected unfolding of events, that is deemed to be appropriate or expected in a particular socially defined context, and that provides a rationale or justification for a particular issue or course of action. We suggest there are four types of script: (1) a socially perceived routine or expected sequence of events; (2) a catch-phrase, metaphor or allegory that is frequently recited in response to a particular issue or situation; (3) a mini-story, narrative or parable; and (4) a commonly used line of argument that is widely invoked in response to a particular issue or situation. Using examples from our work with farmers in the UK and Australia relating to animal health and biosecurity, and specifically bovine tuberculosis, we demonstrate how scripts affect the perceived management options of farmers in particular circumstances. We suggest that scripts have implications for policymakers and those seeking to promote practice change such as agricultural extension staff and agricultural veterinarians.

Whether intentional or not, humans have been responsible for the
translocation of invasive marine species. The indicative representations of association suggest that biofouling has been the most prevalent mechanism contributing to such invasions across the globe.
Biofouling is one of the oldest mechanisms of human-mediated transport of marine species, beginning with early human movements on small scales and eventually leading to world explorations with the European Expansion from 1500 AD onwards.
The most common means of biofouling is marine species attaching themselves to any part of a vessel, or any equipment attached to or onboard the vessel, aquaculture equipment and mooring devices.
In contrast, ballast water is a relatively new vector of transport, with the earliest ballast water use recorded in the late 19th century. Ballast water – water (including sediment that has been contained in water) held in tanks and cargo holds of ships to increase stability and manoeuvrability during transit – represents an expansion of transport opportunity to the vast majority of the benthic species associated with biofouling.
This project assessed the relative contributions of known marine
pest vectors in terms of the introduction and translocation of marine invasive species on a national basis (in Australia) through a review of the National Port Survey Database (NPSD) and on a worldwide basis through a literature review.
The information represented by the global dataset and the NPSD provide a useful tool for identification of species associations with modern vectors of transport, and the opportunity to identify likely relationships for future entry.
Analysis of the global dataset indicated that more species have life history characteristics associated with biofouling (55 per cent) than any other vector. The second highest association was with ballast water (31 per cent).
A similar relative contribution was found in the Australian context through analysis of the NPSD, with biofouling contributing 60 per cent of species association and ballast water 24 per cent.

This document was written by Arlène Alpha and Muriel Figuié (Cirad) under the coordination of the FAO Sub-Regional  Resilience Team for West Africa/Sahel (REOWA).
It has been reviewed by Vincent Martin, Patrick David and Oriane Turot from the FAO REOWA team, and by Cheikh Ly (FAO Regional Office for Africa) and Juan Lubroth (FAO Animal Production and Health Division).  It also benefited from the contribution of Helen Roberts (APHA), Lindsay McCrickard (DAI), Jesse Bonwitt, Julien Gavelle and Philippe Kone (FAO consultants).
Also available at: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5641e.pdf

El objetivo de este estudio de alcance descriptivo fue revisar las investigaciones publicadas entre 2010 y 2018 sobre accidentes de trabajo con riesgo biológico en personal de salud en los países de la Región Andina, con el propósito de determinar la dinámica de la investigación en este campo y las acciones para anticipar los riesgos biológicos emergentes. El método aplicado fue la revisión documental, con diseño de búsqueda en bases de datos de revistas científicas, ubicando y seleccionando artículos originales que describieran métodos, fuente de los datos y resultados. Resultados. Los estudios revisados indican que los trabajadores del sector salud que están más expuestos a sufrir accidentes con contaminación biológica son las enfermeras, los residentes y los profesionales de áreas quirúrgicas. Se encontró, que los estudiantes de medicina que adelantan prácticas y el personal del servicio de aseo de las instituciones de salud, también son grupos con alto riesgo de sufrir este tipo de accidente. La punción con objetos corto punzantes y el contacto con sangre, fueron el tipo de accidente más frecuentemente reportado. Se concluyó que la investigación sobre el tema en los países de la CAN es incipiente, los esfuerzos en los centros médicos no son suficientes para la prevención y disminución de accidentes con contaminación biológica. Para reducir la accidentalidad en las áreas hospitalarias  deben adelantarse acciones educativas de prevención de manera permanente, así como el análisis de incidentes debe avanzar hacia la búsqueda de causas raíz.

Invasive species are driving declines in global biodiversity. Brachyurans are particularly successful marine invaders. The Asian paddle crab, Charybdis japonica, is a large invasive portunid native to Asia, first detected in the Waitematā Harbour in 2000. However, little is known about the distribution, morphometrics, population demography, male influence on trap catch, where juveniles recruit, and the best method to capture them. Sampling across the North Island, in addition to fishermen interviews, were used to determine the crab’s current distribution. Morphometrics and population demography were analysed for C. japonica caught using traps. Male influence on trap catch and individual behaviours were examined using lab and field trials. Catch data from the Kaipara Harbour were examined to determine where juveniles recruit and the best method for detection. Charybdis japonica currently occurs from Ohiwa Harbour to the Bay of Islands on the east coast of the North Island and Manukau Harbour to Hokianga Harbour on the west coast. Analysis of distribution and invasion rate suggested that this dispersal is due to a range of vectors including international or domestic shipping, larval dispersal, aquaculture, and recreational vessels. The morphometric analysis revealed variation in interocular width between Kaipara/Manukau Harbours and Weiti River/Bayswater Marina and identified a possible morphometric size at maturity of males just below 60mm carapace width. The abundance of females varied seasonally, with all populations of C. japonica sampled being male-biased. The presence of large male C. japonica in traps decreased the probability of further captures through aggressive interactions, indicating that the male-biased catch may be a sampling artefact rather than being representative of the population present. Juvenile C. japonica recruit into separate habitats with less fine sediment when compared to adults within the Kaipara Harbour. Benthic sled tows were the most effective method trialled for detecting small juvenile C. japonica within the Kaipara Harbour. These findings have several management implications. To prevent the continued spread of C. japonica throughout New Zealand, increased biosecurity measures are required to prevent further regional spread. This includes monitoring and population control using multiple methods to target various life stages of C. japonica.

Medical tourism: Emerging biosecurity and nosocomial issues

Abstract
Purpose – The major purpose of this research note is to explore some of the potential biosecurity and nosocomial risks associated with international medical tourism.

Design/methodology/approach – The note reviews relevant medical tourism and cognate literature.

Findings – The note finds that there are substantial risks associated with nosomial infections and complications as a result of international tourism. Although these are clearly significant at an individual level they also represent significant biosecurity risks to the home country of medical tourists and particularly to medical facilities which they may visit if they have an infection. Medical tourists are therefore identified by the medical community as posing significant risks for the spread of pandemics as well as further contributing to increased antibiotic resistance. Further systematic research is required to assess risk management strategies including the appropriateness of international and national regulations which currently shows considerable variability.

Social implications – The development of international medical tourism is demonstrated to have potentially significant negative implications for global public health.

Originality/value – The relevance of the paper lies in its identification of considerable risks associated with international medical tourism which may have considerable economic and personal costs associated with them. Such risks are not usually incorporated into assessments of the economic benefits of medical tourism.

Key words biological invasion, international health regulations, mobility, global public health

For the authoritative version of the paper please consult the journal website http://www.emeraldinsight.com/fwd.htm?id=aob&ini=aob&doi=10.1108/16605371111127288

Since the collapse of negotiations around a protocol to the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) in 2001, states parties have begun to discuss several novel issues linked to the broader implementation of the BWC as part of a series of intersessional meetings. While initially fruitful, this approach has generated diminishing returns in the last five years. Moreover, in addressing these broader issues of implementation, biological disarmament diplomacy has largely neglected the thorny issue of compliance.

Compliance with the BWC is more than a simple binary choice to sign a commitment not to develop or produce biological weapons. It requires the adherence to all the obligations, both negative and positive, undertaken by BWC states parties in signing and ratifying the convention. In the BWC context, this is complicated by the ambiguity surrounding certain obligations, changes in science and security, and the limited resource capacity of some states to fulfill their obligations. Under such circumstances, without episodically revisiting compliance, there remains the risk that BWC will become ever more fragmented, outmoded and poorly implemented.

Although many states insist strengthening the convention can only be achieved through a multilaterally negotiated, legally binding verification protocol, this is not politically feasible for the foreseeable future. Nor is this necessarily true; an incremental approach to strengthening the convention could be pursued, dealing with mutually reinforcing components of the regime in a balanced manner and laying the foundations for future work, if and when it becomes politically expedient to proceed.

This Occasional Paper proposes a number of activities that could be pursued as part of an incremental approach to revisiting compliance with the BWC.

In a world where invasive alien species (IAS) are recognised as one of the major threats to biodiversity, leading scientists from five continents have come together to propose the concept of developing an international association for open knowledge and open data on IAS—termed " INVASIVESNET ". This new association will facilitate greater understanding and improved management of invasive alien species (IAS) and biological invasions globally, by developing a sustainable network of networks for effective knowledge exchange. In addition to their inclusion in the CBD Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, the increasing ecological, social, cultural and economic impacts associated with IAS have driven the development of multiple legal instruments and policies. This increases the need for greater coordination , cooperation , and information exchange among scientists, management, the community of practice and the public. INVASIVESNET will be formed by linking new and existing networks of interested stakeholders including international and national expert working groups and initiatives, individual scientists, database managers, thematic open access journals, environmental agencies, practitioners, managers, industry, non-government organisations, citizens and educational bodies. The association will develop technical tools and cyberinfrastructure for the collection, management and dissemination of data and information on IAS; create an effective communication platform for global stakeholders; and promote coordination and collaboration through international meetings, workshops, education, training and outreach. To date, the sustainability of many strategic national and international initiatives on IAS have unfortunately been hampered by time-limited grants or funding cycles. Recognising that IAS initiatives need to be globally coordinated and ongoing , we aim to develop a sustainable knowledge sharing association to connect the outputs of IAS research and to inform the consequential management and societal challenges arising from IAS introductions. INVASIVESNET will provide a dynamic and enduring network of networks to ensure the continuity of connections among the IAS community of practice, science and management.