S Jaishankar warns of rising bioterrorism threat, Calls for stronger global biosecurity framework

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has urged the international community to urgently strengthen the global biosecurity architecture, warning that rapid advancements in biotechnology have increased the risk of biological weapons and bioterrorism. Speaking at a global forum, he stressed that biological threats are no longer theoretical but a growing danger, particularly due to potential misuse by non-state actors and terrorist groups.

Jaishankar highlighted that the existing Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), established nearly five decades ago, lacks modern tools such as compliance mechanisms, a permanent technical body, and real-time surveillance capabilities. He stressed the need to upgrade the convention to keep pace with scientific developments, especially in synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, and genetic engineering.

Jaishankar concluded by stating that in a world where diseases can cross borders within hours, safeguarding biosecurity is not just a policy issue but a global responsibility.

Explaining the threat, Jaishankar said bioterrorism refers to the deliberate use of viruses, bacteria, or toxins such as anthrax, plague, or engineered pathogens to cause disease, death, fear, and societal disruption. These agents can be dispersed through air, water, food, or rapidly spread among populations, making them harder to detect and control. Unlike traditional weapons, biological weapons are silent, invisible, and can trigger pandemics.

He warned that future biological weapons could be more dangerous due to advances in gene editing tools like CRISPR(Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) which could enable the creation of engineered pathogens that are more transmissible, resistant to treatment, or specifically targeted at certain groups. These genetic modifications could potentially make biological weapons cheaper, easier to produce, and harder to trace.

The minister emphasized that biosecurity is now deeply linked to public health, national security, and global stability. He called for an international compliance framework, faster disease surveillance, secure research practices, and greater cooperation among nations, especially those in the Global South, to prepare for future biological threats.