Meet will consider biothreats in Mideast

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- A conference in Abu Dhabi this month will address how prepared the Middle East is to deal with global pandemics and other bio-security threats.

The conference is organized by a Washington-based non-profit, the International Council for the Life Sciences, and will involve experts and government officials from more than 30 countries in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

It is being co-sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency.

“The conference is designed to deal with the whole spectrum of biological risks and threats,” organizer Terence Taylor told United Press International, “from naturally occurring diseases, to accidental release of laboratory pathogens” such as happened in the recent British outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, “all the way through to bioterrorism.”

Taylor said that the breadth of focus was important, both to maximize participation and because “any point on that (risk and threat) spectrum could cause a catastrophe. Yes it could be a terrorist attack … but it could also be an outbreak of hemorrhagic influenza.”

Taylor called the region a “cockpit” of biological threats, “where (such) outbreaks are least likely to be contained” because of limited resources and political tensions.