Introduction
Biosecurity is the strategies and efforts by society to protect people, animals, and the environment as a whole against any prevailing biological threats. The main objective of biosecurity is to protect human beings and animals against dangers associated with diseases and organisms within the environment. Biosecurity is successful if supported by an expert management system and other practical protocols that an institution may establish. The basic tools used in biosecurity are exclusion, elimination, and control of the diseases and organisms that pose threats to human health.
Biosecurity is a management practice in defending human life against any possible biological threat. Biosecurity is a preventive measure that is designed to the risk of intentional removal of elements of valuable biological material. It involves a combination of practices and systems that are assembled in a very well-organized legitimate place which is considered to be the main source of the pathogens and other toxins.
The term biosecurity is not like other kinds of security where we talk of guards, gates, and other machines that are used as security measures, biosecurity encompasses co-operations of scientists, efforts of technicians, those make policies, laws enforcers, and security engineers (Bacot, & Martin, 1998).
A biological laboratory is where most biosecurity operations are carried out. Disease diagnosis, animal analysis, epidemiological studies, and pharmaceutical developments are carried out in biological laboratories. Materials that are used in biological laboratories are used for a justifiable purpose and it is here where large volumes of microorganisms are replicated. In the biological laboratory, cellular components are extracted for purposes of education, medical, and health purposes. Biosecurity programs are conducted in biological laboratories which have the following components:
- Personnel security
- Physical security
- Transport security
- Program management
- Information security
- Material and control security
Terrorists used pathogens and other toxins in the past to threaten and cause disruption in society hence affecting both the political and economic position of these societies. International agreements have been established to eradicate the use of biological agents for malicious purposes by terrorists. Those who carry out such operations of threatening human life in society are considered to go against ethical values and do not respect the rights of people. Global treaties and other conventions have been put in place to curb the accessibility of unauthorized persons to biological agents and toxins that are present in the biological laboratories.
To reduce the risk of bioterrorism, the harmonized international regime has been established to enhance biosecurity through the reinforcement of strands. The reinforcement of strands encompasses control of access to dangerous pathogens, transparency for sanctioned biodefense programs, the acts of terrorists to use science to challenge security among others (Appel, 2002).
List of Agents
Some agents are deemed responsible for biological insecurity in society. The US government has established that there are agents responsible for human infections and those which infect both humans and animals. There are also those which infect both plants and animals.
- Human agents: These includes ebolavirus, cercopithecine herpesvirus, Marburg virus, lass fever virus, conotoxins, saxitoxin, tetrodotoxin, Variola major virus, Shiga toxin, Variola minor virus
- Zoonotic agents: These includes bacillus anthracis, botulinum neurotoxin, Brucella abortus, Brucella suis botulinum neurotoxin, Coxiella burnetii, Hendra virus, Staphylococcal enterotoxins, Clostridium perfringens epsilon toxin, Pseudomonas mallei, shag toxin, Nipah virus, Rift Valley fever virus, Coccidioides immitis, Coxiella burnetii, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus
- Animal agents: These include Camel pox virus, Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Foot-and-mouth disease virus, African horse sickness virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, Menangle virus, Vesicular stomatitis virus, Sheep pox virus, Vesicular stomatitis virus, Newcastle disease virus, Mycoplasma capricolum, Peste des petits ruminants virus, Mycoplasma mycoides mycoides
- Plant agents: These comprises of Candidatus Liberobacter africanus, Candidatus Liberobacter asiaticus, Synchytrium endobioticum, Xanthomonas oryzae, Oryzicola, Xylella fastidiosa.
The target of attack
Biological threats are caused by organisms and diseases that are sometimes invisible and these might be used by terrorism to challenge security in society. The target is the invisible killers. Some countries around the world have established Collaborative Biosecurity Research Initiative (CBRI) which is aimed at facilitating countermeasures for foreign animal diseases which has been a threat to the life of booth animals and human beings.
The biosecurity initiatives are also intended to provide and evaluate the ability to counterattack animal and zoonotic diseases. The CBR was put in place by the most government to strengthen the biosecurity strategies in certain areas or a given population.
Security handling
The biosecurity program must be implemented by authorities who are well conversant with all the precautions that are mandatory to be observed. The facilities to be employed during the implementation of the biosecurity program provide enough mitigation for security purposes using biosecurity assessment. Any biosecurity program should involve risk assessment as part of security handling measures. Facility management must define site-specific program components which have their foundation on company vulnerability assessment. There should be minimum standards and requirements before implementing a biosecurity program (Stone, 2003).
The organization management must offer support to the process of biosecurity for it to be effectively implemented. It is with deep concern that most organizations are not willing to provide resources to impose and implement biosecurity plans in the organization hence the whole process cannot be efficient. As a security handling measure, there must be biosecurity programs that are supposed to protect the assets that are very important during the implementation process.
Physical security encompasses proper building and other premises where the biological laboratories are to be situated; biological storage areas should be evaluated as a security measure. It is recommendable that policies should be established that ensure that paramount information is handled in a very sensitive way (Appel, 2002).
Information that is related to pathogens and toxins is considered to be very sensitive information and it encompasses facility security plans, access control codes, and storage locations among others. The information security program is very important in biosecurity implementation because unauthorized access should be prevented and that appropriate confidentiality measures are preserved.
Secure information is tailored to mitigate any predicted threat and support the mission of the organization of implementing a biosecurity program. The organization should ensure that critical information should be handled with care and control of this information should be taken as security measures. The organization must establish policies purposely for the identification of sensitive information. Policies should also secure information in electronic files and other removable electronic media.
Security handling is very imperative in a biological laboratory. Laboratory security policies should be aimed at responding to situations that happened without the awareness of the team that is responsible for implementing the biosecurity program. Human life preservation and laboratory employees’ health should be considered to ensure that there are emergency responding mechanisms for handling such cases to protect the lives of all who participate in the process.
There should be security breach response plans which involve proper coordination of facilities with the responsible person such as medical personnel, those who are responsible for emergency firs that can lead to burning of the whole premises and any other emergency officials. The facilities should be integrated with the specific security plans. These plans should accommodate adverse events that might occur such as bomb threats, adverse weather conditions, and natural disasters (Ryan, & Glarum, 2008).
It is also important that personnel management identify the obligations of employees who are responsible for the handle, use, or store of dangerous pathogens or any other crucial assets. In addition, there should be an effective communication chain that includes organization management, program representatives and officials, laboratory technicians, and public authorities.
Mode of dispersion
Biological agents are unique hence can be efficient biological weapons. The fact that these agents can replicate after it has been disseminated makes them attractive in weaponizing. The ability of a country to disperse biological agents depends entirely on the stabilization facilities such as missiles and advanced aircraft.
It is important to understand that a small group of people can infect a large number of targeted if single individuals are deployed in a military staging are persons. The mode of dispersion to be adopted is determined by the target group. Massive social disorganization can be achieved in civil situations if the biological agent strike is targeted at populated areas. Dispersion is very critical due to the receptiveness of the biological agents to the environment due to the application stage.
The weakness of the organism to the inactivation of the biological weapon is a challenge to end the use of biological weapons. Before any dispersion process is done, it is important to examine the environment as to whether it is a very high physical and chemical stress environment. The environment might be high salt concentration, extreme temperatures, and high surface area with air-water interface which might not support the process of biological weapon implementation (Alibek, 2000).
The best and the efficient mode of dispersion is aerosolization of the agents by use of spray devices. This is because there are extreme conditions that are linked to hotheaded dispersion which can inactivate the agent. The choice of aerosolization as a mode of dispersion is considered to be the best since it allows for control of the particle size. It also allows the control of the density size to adequately protect the agents from environmental degradation. The process is considered efficient and sufficient because it ensures the uptake of biological agents into the lungs of the targeted population. The systems used in aerosolization generate invisible clouds.
References
Alibek, K (2000). Biosecurity Information. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Health and Safety. 140-170.
Appel, G. (2002). Biosecurity in Microbiological Laboratories, 5th Edition – U.S. Department of Health Services and the National Institutes of Health. 150-200.
Bacot, A & Martin, J (1998). Biohazard. Lanham, MD: Government Institutes; 339-375.
Ryan, J & Glarum, J (2008). Biosecurity and Bioterrorism. 90-130.
Stone, B (2003). Chemical and Biological Terrorism: Harcourt Brace & Co. Academic Press; p. 240-260.