Russia and other countries are continuing to expand their chemical weapon arsenal despite being signatories to the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention. A new report highlights the weaknesses in the existing treaty by showing how it fails to cover research into non-lethal chemical weapons or newer chemical compounds (ex. binary weapons) that weren't conceived of at the time of the treaty.

North Korea has several thousand tonnes of chemical weapons it can mount on missiles that could be used on a rapid strike against the South, said a report released by the International Crisis Group (ICG).

The author discusses the problems with government attempts to control biological technologies and introduces a joint Berkeley-industry project to develop improved DNA screening software, virulence databases, and advice portals for use by scientists as an indication of how scientists are attempting to self-police their field.

The terrorism threat to the United States over the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security and increasing Internet savvy, says a new intelligence assessment from the U.S. Homeland Security Department. Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks are considered the most dangerous threats that could be carried out against the U.S. but are also the most unlikely because it is so difficult for al-Qaida and similar groups to acquire the materials needed to carry out such plots.

Even as the United States spends billions of dollars on biological defense initiatives, experts continue to debate the likelihood that terrorists could pull off a major attack using smallpox or another disease agent.

The economic crisis is jeopardizing the nation's ability to handle public-health emergencies and possible bioterrorist attacks, according to government leaders and a new report.

The author argues that the current rate of scientific advances is leading to a convergence of "biological, algorithmic, and micromechanical innovations necessary to build a desktop gene printer." He calls for more careful assessment and regulation of these technologies.

Terrorists are likely to use a weapon of mass destruction somewhere in the world in the next five years, a blue-ribbon panel assembled by Congress has concluded.