U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged States Parties to the international convention on biological weapons to increase cooperation on the peaceful use of biological science and technology to ensure that the knowledge is used for the benefit of humanity and not exploited to undermine global security. In a video message to the seventh review conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Biological and Toxin Weapons, and on their Destruction, which opened today in Geneva, Ban said the treaty is central to the global disarmament and weapons non-proliferation framework. “Over the past five years, states parties have developed common understandings aimed at better implementation of this critical instrument,” said the U.N. Secretary-General. “The parties have also built a vibrant network of concerned groups and individuals.” “It helps to ensure that biological science and technology can be developed safely and securely-so that they bring benefits, not danger,” Ban said. Jarmo Sareva, the director of the Geneva Branch of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, described the treaty as the legal embodiment of the international community's determination to eliminate the possibility of disease being used as a weapon. It formed one of the fundamental pillars of the collective struggle against weapons of mass destruction, he said.
