The permanent relation between biology, power and war: The dual use of the biotechnological development

Abstract

Throughout the twentieth century, the biological advance had a closer and closer relation with the strategies of power in search of high technology. From 1970, the manipulation of genetically recombined pathogenic agents was a high technological breakthrough that radically over passed traditional biology and reinforced the war relations of science. The biotechnological revolution started along with new perspectives for the political and military field of science. From this point of the biotechnological development a new paradigm for war, as well as for the sciences of life, was then created and new challenges for International Health in the twenty first century came into scene. Through a historical account related to power, this paper is meant to present the mechanism of articulation existent between science and power and to contribute for understanding how the military field is naturally inserted in the biotechnological development which, in its essence, produces biotechnologies for civil and military uses.