[UNOCT] The Fight Against Bioterrorism: Drawbacks of Solutions

Written by IRNA

Bioterrorism is a subject threat that is rarely covered on, but when it is covered, it usually entails serious consequences.

In the UNOCT, biological weapons are defined by the delegates as lethal viruses or bacteria that can be used to harm and possibly kill people, and the act of bioterrorism is the act of intentionally releasing such biological weapons. The council recognises that movement of bio-weapons between countries is dangerous and should be stopped as soon as possible.

There are various solutions that have been suggested to combat such an issue, and the delegates have even taken inspiration from the current COVID-19 situation. Despite this, the most prominent idea of the discussion was for biological scanners to detect bioweapons at airports.

However, there is never a foolproof solution to any one problem. Delegates have raised concerns on the amount of time required to implement this system, along with the amount of time that is required for one check itself. 

This is important as should the time for one check be very long, as it would then not be feasible if the check itself takes too long or it is not accurate. The proposed system would require all passengers who want to board a plane to go through a screening at least once. This, amplified by the fact that the airport is a very busy place, would mean that it would require a lot of time to get a large number of passengers to be screened. 

Another concern raised is that countries may not have enough fundings to afford the technology. To deal with this issue, delegates have made a system to reduce the financial strain on the poorer third-world countries. How the system should work according to the delegates is that they different countries can be assigned to a certain group according to where they are located, and the richer countries in those areas will help out the poorer countries to either get the system, or to change flight systems to ensure that airplanes will either take off or land at a place where the scanner systems are installed

However, some delegates think that there is a much easier solution to dealing with such a matter. One of such solutions is the fact that they can just adopt a current system from Germany. Germany implemented bans on organic materials from getting on the planes with already existing luggage checks, which is seeming better and much more feasible due to it being just a small change to a country’s current existing system

There may also be some oversights on the delegates’ part, as they may be under the influence that bio weapons such as bio-weapons must be specially stored in a containment unit of some sort. This does not hold true as bio-weapons can be released into local areas and thus infect the people or crops that live there. An infected person may then just go to flights and spread it into other foreign countries, as there is close to no way that an infected person can be detected through any sort of scanning.

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