Bio-terrorism, human security and public health: can international law bring them together in an age of globalization?

Bio-terrorism, the use of a microorganism with the deliberate intent of causing infection, before and since the anthrax attacks in the United States in October 2001, has emerged as a real medical and public health threat. The link between bio-terrorism, human security and public health raises complex questions on the normative trajectories of international law, the mandates of international organizations, and global health governance. In May 2001, the World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) passed a resolution entitled "Global Health Security: Epidemic Alert and Response" which inter alia, urged WHO member states to participate actively in the verification and validation of surveillance data and information concerning health emergencies of international concern. This article explores the links between bio-terrorism, human security and public health, and investigates the effectiveness of international legal mechanisms that link them in an age of globalization of public health. The article explores the interaction of WHO's 'soft-law' approaches to global health security, and the 'moribund' negotiations of the verification and monitoring protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention 1972. Can international law link bio-terrorism, public health and human security? Does the WHO collaborate with other international organizations within and outside the United Nations system to develop effective legal and governance approaches to bio-terrorism and global health security? The article concludes that the globalization of public health threats like bio-terrorism requires globalized legal approaches.