The Sunshine Project is an international NGO

Non-governmental organization

A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...

 dedicated to upholding prohibitions against biological warfare

Biological warfare

Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...

 and, particularly, to preventing military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 abuse of biotechnology

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

. It was directed by Edward Hammond

Edward Hammond (scientist)

Edward Hammond is an American policy researcher who, from 1999 through 2007, served as the Director of the United States office of the Sunshine Project, managing its research program on biodefense, incapacitants and other issues....

.

With offices in Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

 and Hamburg, Germany, the Sunshine Project works by exposing research on biological and chemical weapons. Typically, it accesses documents under the Freedom of Information Act and other open records laws, publishing reports and encouraging action to reduce the risk of biological warfare

Biological warfare

Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...

. It tracks the construction of high containment laboratory facilities and the dual-use activities of the U.S. biodefense

Biodefense

Biodefense refers to short term, local, usually military measures to restore biosecurity to a given group of persons in a given area who are, or may be, subject to biological warfare— in the civilian terminology, it is a very robust biohazard response. It is technically possible to apply...

 program. Another focus is on documenting government-sponsored research and development

Research and development

The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...

 of incapacitating "non-lethal" weapons, such as the chemical used by Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 to end the Moscow theater hostage crisis

Moscow theater hostage crisis

The Moscow theater hostage crisis, also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege, was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater on 23 October 2002 by some 40 to 50 armed Chechens who claimed allegiance to the Islamist militant separatist movement in Chechnya. They took 850 hostages and demanded the...

 in 2002. The Sunshine Project is also active in meetings of the Biological Weapons Convention

Biological Weapons Convention

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the...

, the main international treaty

Treaty

A treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...

prohibiting biological warfare.

An announcement was posted on The Sunshine Project website, "As of 1 February 2008, the Sunshine Project is suspending its operations", due to a lack of funding. Although this website is no longer updated, it remains online as an archive of its activities and publications from 2000 through 2008.

Biological weapons safety

The Sunshine Project
Biosafety Bites (v.2) #14 6 June 2006

External links

• Sunshine Project website
• http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2008/02/the-sun-sets-on.html The Sun Sets on the Sunshine Project