(ASA Correspondent John Hart, now with SIPRI, reports on a resent workshop he attended in Almaty and on discussions concerning biosecurity problems, primarily funding. John is very well noted throughout the NBC world for his insightful grasp of the nuances behind the political pronouncements )

Biological weapon nonproliferation and biosecurity workshops in Almaty
By John Hart

          On 12-14 May 2003 a training seminar on biological weapons (BW) nonproliferation was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The meeting, which was organized by the Monterey Institute of International Studies' Center for Nonproliferation Studies in cooperation with the M. Aykimbaev Kazakh Scientific Center for Quarantine and Zoonotic Infections, was attended by about 60 people, mostly regional government officials, and technical experts from the former Russian (then Soviet) Anti-Plague System (1) in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Ukraine (2). Representatives from European and US governments also attended.

          Areas considered by the conference included: regional health and environmental problems; current and future threats posed by BW, including possible terrorist threats; the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC); disease surveillance; export controls; and national and international efforts to better meet perceived BW threats, including through the implementation of Australia Group (AG) guidelines. A follow-on biosecurity workshop, largely attended by the same people, was held on 15-17 May.

          On 14 May participants were given a tour of the M. Aykimbaev Kazakh Scientific Center for Quarantine and Zoonotic Infections (prior to May 2001, the Kazakh Anti-Plague Scientific Research Institute). The facility, which once produced plague vaccines for the Soviet military and traces its origins to 1930, produces bacterial growth media, antibody preparations against plague, and antigen-based diagnostic preparations for the detection of various pathogens endemic to the region, including anthrax, brucellosis, cholera, plague and tularemia. Plague is endemic in approximately 40 percent of the territory of Kazakhstan.

          The center also conducts courses for doctors, biologists and laboratory technicians from Kazakhstan and other countries in the region on the handling, identification and treatment of highly dangerous pathogens. A number of US -funded security upgrades have been implemented by the center in recent years. The facility now has a fence and a gate manned by armed security personnel. Until recently, neighbors in the surrounding houses would walk across the grounds, sometimes to play or have picnics. Metal doors, window bars and an alarm system have also been installed. The center does not have freezers because, it says, of a lack of funding. (US-funded projects at the center have apparently been devoted to improving physical security only.) Reference strains are instead stored in ordinary refrigerators and periodically recaptured, thus risking the introduction of genetic mutations.

          The meetings gave regional representatives the opportunity to discuss possibilities for participating in Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) and International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) programs with donor government officials. Some participants were uncertain as to what they should do specifically in order to apply to US programs. It was noted that CTR programs may be carried out only after an implementing agreement between the U S and the recipient country's government covering such issues as liability and taxation, is concluded. However, such an agreement is not a necessary precondition for participating in ISTC programs.

          A number of countries which were formerly part of the Soviet Union, including Kazakhstan and Ukraine, have introduced new regulations and laws governing the internal transport and export of select pathogens. Efforts have also been made to catalogue, safeguard and consolidate pathogen collections. To varying degrees, all of the institutes represented face serious financial constraints. One facility, for example, in addition to not having computers, also has no telephone. Yet these facilities are important to the health care systems of their respective countries. Participants found the meetings useful and similar workshops are planned in future.

Notes:
(1) In the late 19th century Russia established a system of anti-plague stations to fight against naturally occurring plague outbreaks by carrying out basic research, developing vaccines and treatments and destroying diseased animals.
(2) There were no representatives from the anti-plague institutes in Moldova, Russia and Turkestan.

Sources:
          Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazaxhsky Nauchny Tsentr Karantinnych i Zoonoznych Infektsy im. M. Aykimbaeva (KNTsKZI) [M. Aykimbaev Kazakh Scientific Center for Quarantine and Zoonotic Infections], (Almaty, Kazakhstan: 2002), 5 pp.