Bioweapons Expert Barry Kellman: Dangers of Bioviolence Growing

BETHESDA, MD: Barry Kellman,  DePaul University weapons expert, says bioviolence will become a greater threat as the technology becomes more accessible. He wrote on the subject for the  May-June 2008 article in THE FUTURIST (PDF). Shortly afterward, last December, a congressionally-chartered bi-partisan panel made headlines in the U.S. when it reported that a bio-attack was likely in the next five years. Kellman will address WorldFuture 2009 The annual conference of the World Future Society this July on the threat of bio-violence. He'll discuss how governments might better protect their citizens from one of the biggest threats of the 21st Century.

 In an exclusive interview with THE FUTURIST magazine, Kellman stated the most important step the governments should undertake to prevent a bio-terror attack is to coordinate efforts.

Governments must, he said, "Enhance global preparedness for bio-attacks.  Preparedness includes hardening targets (e.g., locking air circulation systems of major venues), improving biosurveillance and disease diagnosis, facilitating global development of countermeasures, and establishing a platform for rapid global delivery of vaccines/antidotes."

At WorldFuture 2009, the annual conference of the World Future Society, Kellman will discuss how bioviolence will become a greater threat as new technologies become more accessible. Emerging scientific disciplines (notably genomics, nanotechnology, and other microsciences) could pave the way for a bioattack. New policies, he says, could reduce these dangers.

 
WorldFuture 2009: Innovation and Creativity in a Complex World, the annual conference of the World Future Society will take place July 17-19, 2009 at the Hilton Chicago, Chicago, Illinois Professional Members' Forum: July 20, 2009.

Founded in 1966 as a nonprofit educational and scientific organization in Washington, D.C., the World Future Society has members in more than eighty countries around the world. Individuals and groups from all nations are eligible to join the Society and participate in its programs and activities.

The Society holds a two-day, international conference once a year where participants discuss foresight techniques and global trends that are influencing the future. Previous conference attendees have included future U.S. President Gerald Ford (1974), Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy (1975), behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner (1984), age-wave expert Ken Dychtwald (2005), U.S. comptroller general David M. Walker (2006), and scientist and inventor Ray Kurzweil (2006).

This year's speakers include: Ambassador John W. McDonald, Robert D. Atkinson, former project director of the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, labor expert Edward E. Gordon, University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur L. Caplan, longevity expert Michael Zey, bioweapons workplace John Challenger, and bestselling author of Grown Up Digital, Don Tapscott.  

More information and registration can be obtained from The World Future Society's Web site. www.wfs.org