Scientific Change and the Security Environment: Biotechnology and security to 2025

Article

Developments in the life and associated sciences are going to make it increasingly cheap and easy for more and more states, sub-state groups and individuals to do greater and greater harm. Furthermore, the historical record suggests that it will be very difficult to stop major hostile applications of this powerful technology.

The old distinctions between chemical and biological weapons have become increasingly meaningless as chemistry becomes indistinguishable from biology, and it is important to grasp the fact that these weapons are not just potential weapons of mass destruction, but can be used on a range of lesser scales. And the prevailing conditions to 2025 could be conducive to a resurgence of these weapons - unless very strenuous efforts are made to prevent that happening.

Related items

  1. A close-up photo of a house flying an England flag from an upstairs window

    Reclaiming Britain: The nation against ethno-nationalism

    How can progressives respond to the increasing ethnonationalist narratives of the political right?
  2. Street scene in financial district, London

    Rule of the market: How to lower UK borrowing costs

    The UK is paying a premium on its borrowing costs that ‘economic fundamentals’, such as the sustainability of its public finances, cannot fully explain. 
  3. A mother and child from behind looking out of a window

    Restoring security: Understanding the effects of removing the two-child limit across the UK

    The government’s decision to lift the two-child limit marks one of the most significant changes to the social security system in a decade.