Contrary to common belief, infectious diseases are not as well under control as we would like. We are now at a crossroads regarding the impact of the environment on infectious diseases. Renewed interest in biological weapons and the emergence of new pathogens, coupled with a better understanding of the impact of infectious agents on other conventional diseases, has led us to realise that we can no longer remain complacent about the impact of infectious agents on human, animal and crop health.
The present book first discusses current and emerging military and civilian policies on the environment. In addition, the impact of environmental biology on the future of space exploration is discussed, especially in reference to the Mars mission. There follows a discussion of the state of bacteria in the environment, with a presentation of current and emerging techniques of microbial investigation. Finally, two case studies are presented on the impact of these techniques on both political and environmental problems.

Inhalt
Some Problems Concerning Biological Threats.- Technologies for Monitoring the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention: An Emerging Consensus?.- Robotics Mission to Mars from Exobiological Point of View.- Dormancy in Non-Sporulating Bacteria: Its Significance for Environmental Monitoring.- Monitoring the Bacterial Neuston.- The Past, Present and Future of Luminometric Methods in Biological Detection.- Environmental Applications of the NRL Flow Immunosensor.- Capillary Electrophoresis/Nucleic Acid Probe Identification of Biological Warfare Agent Simulants.- Rapid Method for Bacterial Counting in the Milk by Using Biosensor Based on E. coli Cells.- Tiny-TOF Mass Spectrometer for Biodetection.- Intelligent Systems for the Characterization of Microorganisms from Hyperspectral Data.- Field Applications of Flow Cytometry.- A Portable Flow Cytometer for the Detection and Identification of Microorganisms.- Biodiversity of Bacterial Populations Monitored by Flow Cytometry.- Measurement of Biological Aerosol with a Fluorescent Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (Flaps): Correlation of Optical Data with Biological Data.- Measurement of Biological Aerosols in an Aerosol Chamber.- Development of PCR-Based Assays for the Detection and Molecular Genotyping of Microorganisms of Importance to Biological Warfare.- Use of Taqman, Light Cycler, and Confocal Microscopy to Detect Specific PCR.- Evaluation of the Polymerase Chain Reaction Assays for Identifying Biological Agents.- Identification of Pathogens Using Single/Double Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP/DSCP) Analysis.- Use of PCR for Identification and Detection of Biological Agents.- Comparative Performance of Conventional and Molecular Dosimetry Methods in Environmental Biomonitoring: Assessment using Bacillus-based Commercial Biopesticides as Models.- Workshop Conclusions.- Appendixes.- First Day's Panel Discussion on the Status of the Environment.- Discussion on Mass Spectometry.- Discussion on Classical Techniques.- Discussion on Nucleic Acid Probe Techniques (individual papers).- Panel Discussion on DNA Techniques.- Discussion on the paper of V. Seligy.- Panel Discussion: Summary of the Meeting.