News Release
Professor Sutton advises members of the UN at the 2008 Biological Weapons Convention in Geneva, Switzerland
In August 2008, Texas Tech University professor, Vickie Sutton, returned to Lubbock after advising members of the United Nations at the Meeting of Experts for the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in Geneva, Switzerland. “I was invited to share my knowledge in biosafety and biosecurity law and ethics,” Sutton said. “I discussed two areas of legal research in those fields.”
Sutton, who heads Texas Tech’s Center for Biodefense, Law and Public Policy, presented the results of regional and national surveys conducted by the center at the convention. The center acts as a source of information to the United Nations and the U.S. Congress by offering its findings as groundwork for legislation.
The most recent surveys explore the effectiveness of the regulatory framework for biosafety and biosecurity in the U.S. and the operation of law and ethics in international health, Sutton said. “The results of a regional survey, which was conducted last year, have been considered by the U.S. senate in construction of new legislation which was introduced this summer,” Sutton said.
(excerpt taken from September 2, 2008 article written by Sarah Whetstone for the Texas Tech News.)