POSITION PAPER

Committee: World Health Organization

Topic: Biological warfare
Country: Colombia
Delegate: Sasikumaran Nandakumar, Dubai Gem Private School
The environment and humans are part of the same ecosystem and are thus connected to their survival.
However, if one harms the other, there will be major impacts. But if one harms both of them, then it
will be a major disaster. This is because of biological warfare. Due to biological warfare, many
innocent humans and the environment is adversely affected by the primary and secondary effects.
Therefore, the use of biological warfare should be banned completely in all areas that are
environmentally sensitive and populated.
An idea originally conceived between 1998 and 1999 titled Plan Colombia resurfaced in the U.S.
House of Representatives to employ an untested pathogenic fungus, Fusarium oxysporum in
Colombia's U.S.-funded "War on Drugs." This plan proposes illegal acts of biological warfare, poses
major ecological risks to one of the world's second most biodiverse country, and will increase the
human damage of a failed eradication policy. The 1925 Geneva Protocol forbids biological methods
of warfare, and in 1969 Richard Nixon issued a presidential declaration on ending the U.S. biological
weapons program. National stocks of such weapons were supposedly destroyed by 1972. Moreover, it
would violate the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), which prohibits international transfers of
bioweapons and equipment.
The lead agents of this were types of Fusarium oxysporum (to kill coca and cannabis) and Pleospora
papaveraceous (to kill opium poppy). Some of Colombia's neighbors, including Ecuador and Peru, had
passed national regulations to try to pre-empt U.S. bioweapons pressure like that exerted on Colombia.
The plan was opposed by civil society worldwide, and President Clinton eventually waived this
requirement, citing concerns about the proliferation of biological weapons.
Colombia refused the US-funded United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP) proposal to field
test fungal pathogens developed by US researchers. Colombian Environment Minister Juan Mayr
announced his decision in a January 4, 2001, letter to the Colombian Senator to oppose the project.
Mayr's decision justifies that biological eradication agents are indeed biological weapons. All further
research - anywhere - on biological agents for coca eradication is outlawed by the Bioweapons
Convention. Any use of these biological agents can only be considered a hostile act. Under the
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (and the US implementing legislation), development of
biological agents for non-peaceful purposes is outlawed.
Similar to this situation, the United Nations had condemned Iraq and Saddam Hussein for preparing
biological weapons including wheat smut rust, which makes grain unsuited for consumption. These
types of bioterrorism acts should be stopped because it could risk unleashing a major crop disease like
the Irish potato blight, Dutch elm disease and chestnut blight, each caused by the introduction of an
exotic fungus. UNDCP, however, in 2001 had continued using biological agents in Asia. An antiopium poppy fungus was field tested by an Uzbekistan laboratory that was part of the former Soviet
Union's offensive biological weapons program.

The past continuation of the Asian projects illustrates why a global ban is urgently needed. A global
ban on these agents can be successful by approving with Conferences of the Parties to the Biological
Weapons Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs
to seek a resolution.
Therefore, the proposal to end biological warfare can be achieved by many feasible resolutions if all
the nations of the world address it as a major issue. Even nuclear weapons that are considered
biological weapons should be unanimously eradicated. Committees like DISEC (Disarmament and
International Security Committee) are working to persuade nuclear power nations to eliminate the risk
of bioterrorism and nuclear war by becoming non-nuclear-weapon countries.
Countries like Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Japan, South Africa and South Korea have forsaken their
nuclear ambitions. And Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons after the breakup
of the Soviet Union, but rejected them, choosing to become independent non-nuclear weapon states.
Thus, raising awareness to protect against biological warfare can prevent the spread of bioterrorism,
ecological and human impacts. With alternatives like peace deals and eco-weaponry, biological
warfare can be banned in using it for war on drugs and people. This will aid the world to progress
towards a cleaner and friendly approach in tackling major problems while preventing many. After all,
many lives have already been lost for the sake of this issue.
Citations:
National Geographic Society. Colombia Facts, Colombia Flag -- National Geographic. National
Geographic. October 26, 2016. Web.
Wikimedia Foundation. United States biological weapons program. Wikipedia. Web
United Nations Pulls Out of Plans to Use Anti-Drug Biological Weapons in South America. Transnational
Institute. April 18, 2014. Web