The Spiez Laboratory (German: Labor Spiez, French: Laboratoire de Spiez, Italian: Laboratorio Spiez) is the Switzerland institute for the protection of the population against nuclear, biological and chemical threats and dangers.[
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Tasks
Development of fundamentals of NBC protective materials and coordination of national NBC-protection.
Operation of testing laboratories for the authorization and supervision of NBC protective materials.
International activities
Spiez Laboratory is an internationally recognized center of excellence and works with the United Nations (UN), the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Also, Spiez Laboratory provides various posts in the NATO program "Partnership for Peace". It is led by Marc Cadisch and appr. 100 civil employees. It can request at any time personnel and equipment of the NBC Troops of the Swiss Armed Forces, if needed. This includes special hardware like the based NBC
verification Laboratory, Or Swiss Air Force Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma Helicopters or Northrop F-5 Tiger II for air measurements (e.g. after the Fukushima event).
Missions
In 2013, Spiez Laboratory was one of the four labs in Europe that analysed samples from the Syrian civil war, for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.[ Céline Zünd, "Des experts suisses prêts à se rendre en Syrie", Le Temps, Tuesday 8 October 2013, p. 7.]
2018 Sergei and Yulia Skripal poisoning - Salisbury UK
According to Sergey Lavrov, the Russian minister of foreign affairs; Spiez Laboratory detected the presence of BZ (3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate) and its precursor in the substance used in the Sergei and Yulia Skripal poisoning case. However, this assertion was subsequently refuted by the OPCW director-general on 18 April: "We should not have an iota of doubt on the reliability of the system of the OPCW Designated Laboratories. The Labs were able to confirm the identity of the chemical by applying existing, well-established procedures. There was no other chemical that was identified by the Labs. The precursor of BZ that is referred to in the public statements, commonly known as 3Q, was contained in the control sample prepared by the OPCW Lab in accordance with the existing quality control procedures. Otherwise it has nothing to do with the samples collected by the OPCW Team in Salisbury. This chemical was reported back to the OPCW by the two designated labs and the findings are duly reflected in the report."[ Opening statement by the director-general of the OPCW to the executive council at its 59th meeting April 18]
In September 2018, two reported members of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate were arrested in The Hague, The Netherlands, for allegedly planning to hack the computer systems of the Spiez Laboratory.
2021
In 2021, the WHO created a pilot program called BioHub which is serving as a way to get countries to share virus data with one another and combat future outbreaks.
See also
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CBRN defense
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Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
External links
