This paper summarises the Royal Society work on reducing the threat of biological weapons and how this has contributed to the UK Governments preparations for various Biological Weapons Convention meetings, particularly the 2005 Annual Meeting. This paper outlines how this area of work has developed from 1994 to 2004. This work has taken many different forms including major policy studies, policy statements, responses to Government documents, attending and arranging both formal and informal meetings, and publishing editorials.