Editing Biosecurity (section)

==As international security issue==
For a long time, health security or biosecurity issues were not considered as an [[international security]] issue, especially in the traditional view of international relations. However, some changes in trend have contributed to the inclusion of biosecurity (health security) in discussions of security. As time progressed, there was a movement towards securitisation. Non-traditional security issues such as [[climate change]], [[organised crime]], [[terrorism]], and [[landmine]]s came to be included in the definition of international security. There was a general realisation that the actors in the international system not only involved nation-states but also included international organisations, institutions, and individuals, which ensured the security of various actors within each nation became an important agenda. Biosecurity is one of the issues to be securitised under this trend. On 10 January 2000, the [[UN Security Council]] convened to discuss [[HIV/AIDS]] as a security issue in Africa and designated it a threat in the following month. The UNDP [[Millennium Development Goals]] also recognise health issues as international security issue.<ref name=koblentz2010/><ref>{{cite book|publisher=United Nations|date=2006|url=https://www.un.org/zh/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDGReport2006.pdf |title=The Millennium Development Goals Report: 2006|access-date=22 May 2020}}</ref>

Several instances of [[epidemic]]s such as [[SARS]] increased awareness of health security (biosecurity). Several factors have rendered biosecurity issues more severe: there is a continuing advancement of [[biotechnology]], which increases the possibility for malevolent use, evolution of [[infectious disease]]s, and globalising force which is making the world more interdependent and more susceptible to spread of epidemics.<ref name=koblentz2010/>

Controversial experiments in [[synthetic biology]], including the synthesis of [[poliovirus]] from its genetic sequence, and the modification of [[Influenza A virus subtype H5N1|flu type H5N1]] for [[airborne transmission]] in [[mammal]]s, led to calls for tighter controls on the materials and information used to perform similar feats.<ref name=ord2020>{{Cite news|last=Ord|first=Toby|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/mar/06/worst-case-thinking-prevent-pandemics-coronavirus-existential-risk|title=Why we need worst-case thinking to prevent pandemics|date=2020-03-06|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-04-11|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|quote=This is an edited extract from ''[[The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity]]''}}</ref> Ideas include better enforcement by national governments and private entities concerning shipments and downloads of such materials, and registration or background check requirements for anyone handling such materials.<ref>{{cite web | title=Biosecurity for the Age of Redesigned Life|format=Audio & transcript|first1=John|last1= Dankosky|first2=Kenneth|last2=Oye |first3= Laurie |last3=Garrett|first4=Peter|last4=Carr |website=NPR.org | date=8 November 2013 | url=https://www.npr.org/2013/11/08/243950742/biosecurity-for-the-age-of-redesigned-life | access-date=22 May 2020}}</ref>