Dual-Use Research Policies Issued

Abstract

The U.S. government has issued a draft policy calling on institutions to exercise new oversight of so-called life sciences dual-use research of concern (DURC). Such experiments involve work that, while scientifically justifiable, could be used for malevolent purposes. The policy requires places such as universities to develop an additional layer of review for this kind of research. It focuses on experiments that involve 15 agents and toxins and seven categories of experiments. The draft is available for public comment for 60 days. Simultaneously, the Department of Health & Human Services announced late last month its final framework for funding or rejecting dual-use research on generating highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses that are transmissible among mammals by respiratory droplets. Two such research efforts on H5N1 viruses in 2011 set off a debate on whether such work should be published. The arguments led to a moratorium on further studies that has ...