UNTOLD RISKS

India needs a full-time organisation to tackle a host of biological threats

- SHRUTI SHARMA

ON APRIL 10, 2020, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke on an issue that many have feared privately: the covid-19 pandemic exposes countries’ “weaknesses and lack of preparedness” and “provides a window onto how a bioterrorist attack might unfold”. India is particularly vulnerable to such bioterrorist attacks due to its size, geography and uneven health system capacity.

The country faces three major biological threats: naturally occurring infections in humans, plants, or animals; diseases that may occur due to an unintentional release of pathogens from laboratories; and terrorists or other bad actors deliberately misusing biotechnology to create biological weapons that can affect humans, animals or crops.

India often faces naturally occurring agricultural infestations, such as the recent locust attacks; diseases that affect animals and have not yet infected humans, such as the bird flu outbreak; and, zoonotic infections that have jumped from animals to humans, such as covid-19. Yet, the country does not have a proper strategy to tackle infections. Instead, it follows a reactive approach, convening emergency committees, ad hoc response panels and groups once a disaster has struck.

Regarding the second category of risks, the country has so far not reported any case of accidental spilling of pathogens. But there has been illegal cultivation of transgenic crops in different regions. This illegal growth of transgenic crops challenges the implementation of guidelines for maintaining safety of biotechnological research.