Biodefense

Biodefense refers to short term, local, usually military measures to restore biosecurity to a given group of persons in a given area - in the civilian terminology, it is a very robust biohazard response. It is technically possible to apply biodefense measures to protect animals or plants, but this is generally uneconomic. However, protection of water supplies and food supplies are often a critical part of biodefense. Various definitions of biosafety emerged in different professions to guarantee non-human health.

Biodefense is most often discussed in the context of biowar or bioterrorism, and is generally considered a military or emergency response term.