COVID-19 has transformed our understanding of biological attacks but the threat is not being taken seriously, one of the UK’s foremost experts warned last night.
“It used to be the case that we focussed our attention on sophisticated laboratories that could potentially manufacture deadly pathogens,” said Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, author of ‘Chemical Warrior: Syria, Salisbury and saving lives at war’. “But what Covid-19 has taught us is that it doesn’t take a sophisticated or even very deadly pathogen to take life or cripple an economy. “Because Covid isn’t very virulent, we’ve allowed a lack of security around those labs that may contain it.
“It may not be virulent, but it is highly transmissible. That’s the issue we have been missing and this must change.
“We must reassess how we look at the world’s laboratories.”
Kromek Group plc designs, develops and produces x-ray and gamma-ray imaging and radiation detection products for the medical, CBRNe security, Homeland Security and civil nuclear radiation detection markets.
