Volume 16, Number 1, 59-75, DOI: 10.1007/s11948-008-9111-4

The Potential Dual Use of Online Pharmacies

Sławomir Letkiewicz and Andrzej Górski

From the issue entitled "Special Issue Section: The Advancement of Science and the Dilemma of Dual Use / Special Section Editors: Andrzej Górski and Raymond E. Spier"

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Abstract

The technological advances of the 20th century resulted in the creation of the Internet and its introduction into everyday life on a global scale. The Internet provides access to information and the sale and purchase of goods. Medications are also subject to trade. Their sale is conducted by online pharmacies and their global turnover amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars. Medications ordered over the Internet are sent by mail all over the world. Considering the events of recent years, we cannot exclude the risk of a terrorist attack through online pharmacies. Terrorists can establish such companies, legally or illegally, or acquire ones already existing. Parcels, which are highly trusted by the customers of online pharmacies, can, for example, be contaminated with dangerous materials. The sale of online medications in the international system is potentially dangerous and requires international regulation.

Keywords  Dual use - Online pharmacies - Terrorism - Bioterrorism

A short version of this article was presented as a lecture at the International Conference: “The Advancement of Science and the Dilemma of Dual Use: Why We Can’t Afford to Fail?” organized by the Polish Academy of Sciences in President Palace Warsaw (9–10 November, 2007).

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