In July 2019 Dr. Xiangguo Qiu, an outstanding Chinese scientist, her colleague and husband Keding Cheng, and an unknown number of her students from China were removed from Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said that it advised the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) about “possible policy breaches.” Qiu was also a part of the team that developed ZMapp, an experimental treatment for Ebola used during the 2014 outbreak in West Africa.

Myanmar has once again faced accusations of having a clandestine chemical weapons capability and non-compliance, despite the country’s efforts to fulfil its obligation under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Even though Myanmar has rejected the latest US allegations, the questions regarding its intact and existing buildings at Tonbo Site and the suspicions about a clandestine chemical weapons factory in Pauk Township will haunt the authorities in Myanmar to come clean before the International community.

Bioweapons have often remained a less debated subject in global dialogue as compared to other weapons of mass destruction. However, the recent development in technologies have lowered the barriers of designing new bioweapons and resurrected the threat of biowarfare. This has culminated in increasing recognition of such weapons in the global intelligence community and a review of existing regulations to ensure one remains updated to tackle with the renewed biological weapons threat. India is also vulnerable to biological attacks given the poor primary healthcare network, conducive environment and conflicting relations with neighbouring countries.