the biological and toxin weapons convention, while it is primarily a security treaty, does contain provisions for the promotion of technical cooperation and development. there is clearly a direct relationship between technical cooperation in regard to disease surveillance and reporting and the capability to distinguish between natural and deliberate outbreaks of disease. this book provides a series of expert contributions related to this key linkage between security and development in the rapidly growing biotechnology field. the books 31 chapters are all written by experts who attended two nato advanced research workshops on btwc security implications of human, animal and plant epidemiology and maximising the security benefits from international cooperation in microbiology and biotechnology held in slovakia and romania at the turn of the millennium.