Virus Diseases and Crop Biosecurity [Paperback]

Without sensationalizing or providing technical details that would result in a terrorist's handbook, this volume reflects concerns expressed by experts from 12 states. The book is exceptional because of its focus on indirect impacts on human health and welfare through challenge to the security of food. These urgently need to be recognised and steps taken to counter the threat. The need for protection is weighed against risks of discouraging biotechnological advance.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Significance of Virus Diseases for Crop Biosecurity in a Developing European Community, Kiev, 4-7 May 2005Biosecurity roughly means safe life and involves a variety of measures designed to prevent disease  causing agents from entering a region and there being spread. Food supplies are easy to disrupt and the provision of biosecurity at la- land borders is especially challenging if trade is to be maintained and when very few travellers are subjected to thorough inspection. WithinthecontextoftheNATOsponsoredworkshopthatwasheldinKiev, Ukraine during May 47, 2005, the pathogens were viruses that infect plants and the region encompassed developing states on the verge of acceding into the European Union. In publishing the papers presented at the workshop, we take this opportunity to thank the sponsors including particularly the NATO Science committee and also the contributors for making the discussions - tertaining and bene?cial. Under United Nations FAO auspices, the International Plant Protection Convention aimed to secure common and effective activities against pests and pathogens. Now, most countries party to that convention have laws and regulations in place to sustain agricultural production under natural threat. National plant protection services exist to inspect growing crops and imp- tations and to determine when and how introduced pathogens might be era- cated. The member states of the European Union, through their national [lói