EU external health security policy and law

Abstract

In an interdependent society, health risks may come from anywhere: health crises may start with industrial pollution, a veterinary epidemic or a natural disaster. It is therefore not only geographical boundaries that need to be removed, but also sectoral ones. 1 1. INTRODUCTION The link between public health and security is not new. As early as 600 BC, infectious disease was recognized for its possible use in warfare. 2 Polluting the water or infecting the enemy's livestock was a common strategy of war. 3 The use of smallpox in the Americas is another example of the use of infectious disease as a biological weapon in history. 4 In 1975 the United Nations (UN) Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) entered into force, banning the development, production and stockpiling of biological weapons. 5 More recently, the term 'health security' or 'biosecurity' has been used to identify the integrated approach to 'society's collective responsibility to safeguard the population from dangers presented by pathogenic microbes-whether naturally occurring or intentionally released'. 6 What is new in this approach is that where the terms 'biosecurity' or 'health security' would once generally refer to the use of pathogens in bio-warfare, 'health security' now also refers more broadly to the dangers of naturally occurring infectious disease and other traditionally singular public health issues. 7 One of the underlying reasons for the new approach is the potential scale and threat posed by these events to the changed global trade and travel environment in which public health emergencies occur. 8 Similarly, in the EU the term 'health security' generally refers to policy that aims to address the security aspects of public health emergencies that can be the result of 1 See para 2.7 of the Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee, 'Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on serious cross-border threats to health' COM (2011) 866 final.