The Sunshine Project was an international

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

dedicated to upholding prohibitions against

biological warfare Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or Pathogen, infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and Fungus, fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an ...

and, particularly, to preventing

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

abuse of

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

. It was directed by Edward Hammond. With offices in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, and

Hamburg, Germany Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, the Sunshine Project worked by exposing research on

biological Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...

and

chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as ...

. Typically, it accessed documents under the

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966 * F ...

and other open records laws, publishing reports and encouraging action to reduce the risk of

. It tracked the construction of high containment laboratory facilities and the

dual-use In politics, diplomacy and export control, dual-use items refer to goods, software and technology that can be used for both civilian and military applications.

activities of the U.S. biodefense program. Another focus was on documenting government-sponsored

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

of incapacitating "

non-lethal Non-lethal weapons, also called nonlethal weapons, less-lethal weapons, less-than-lethal weapons, non-deadly weapons, compliance weapons, or pain-inducing weapons are weapons intended to be less likely to kill a living target than convention ...

" weapons, such as the chemical used by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

to end the

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 in Moscow by Chechen terrorists on 23 October 2002, resulting in the taking of 912 hostages. The attackers, led by Movs ...

in 2002. The Sunshine Project was also active in meetings of the

Biological Weapons Convention The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans Biological weapons, biological and toxin weapons by prohibiting their development, production, acquisition, ...

, the main international

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

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. Its website remained online for some time after this date and could be used as an archive of its activities and publications from 2000 through 2008. However, as of October 2013 the Sunshine Project website was offline. The domain for the website was then reappropriated by a Thai reforestation volunteer organization until September 2023. It now redirects to the internet pornography website 33porn.

Biological weapons safety

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

External links

The Sun Sets on the Sunshine Project

References

Biological warfare {{science-org-stub