Safety, Security, and Ethics in the Biological Realm are a Multi-disciplinary Challenge—That Begins and Ends with the Individual

Abstract

In the practice of the life sciences, safety, security, and ethics are all overlapping elements of a continuum that can be encapsulated as the responsible conduct of science. Similarly, the boundaries between the scientific and technical disciplines involved in the life sciences have largely evaporated. Many people involved in life science research and related activities do not have a biological science background—these include physicists, chemists, engineers, and increasingly information technology specialists in governmental, academic, and private-sector institutions and organizations. Thus, academic and other educational institutions have a special problem in ensuring the proper training and education of individuals at facilities engaged in activities where special precautions are needed. Organizations handling dangerous pathogens have a particular responsibility to ensure that training and leadership in safety and security issues, including international and national laws and regulations, takes into account those staff who may not have received appropriate instructions related to these dangerous organisms, whether they work in a laboratory or are involved in management and other directly related activities. Assuring the responsible conduct of science comes down, in the end, to people and knowledge. Heads of life science institutions and their biosafety officers are increasingly challenged to focus on the abilities of staff in the workplace without assuming that issues of ethics, safety, and security related to dangerous pathogens have been dealt with in the normal course of academic training. The conduct of responsible science, whether in the life sciences or elsewhere, lies in the first instance with the scientists themselves. Scientists have a duty not only to themselves but also to society as a whole—that is to say to governments, academia, private companies, and to the public-at-large. At the most basic level, science should be conducted to benefit humanity, which requires a conscious calculation of the risks involved in every endeavor. The boundaries between scientific disciplines have become increasingly blurred, for positive reasons, making it harder for specialist societies and other discipline-focused professional organizations to bring rigour to codes of conduct and other methods that help ensure safe, secure, and ethical conduct in their respective fields. A multi-disciplinary consultation is urgently needed to help chart better ways to ensure the responsible conduct of science without hindering its advance and dissemination. In this process scientists need to find better and explicit ways to connect with policymakers and the public-at-large to build confidence that scientists well understand their responsibilities. This is a vital element in assuring that science is properly funded and that social, cultural, and religious obstacles do not block progress toward society reaping the true health-related, social, and economic benefits of science. One way to meet this objective is to build and sustain a multi-disciplinary network of scientists that meets, discusses, encourages champions of the cause, and publishes on issues related to the conduct of responsible science. Such a network needs to be sensitive and responsive to cultural, religious, ethnic, and other national characteristics while still acknowledging the international character of advances in science. Since 2007 scientists from Pakistan have participated in the Biosafety and Biosecurity International Conference (BBIC) Process for the Middle East and North Africa Region. This network is supported by the International Council for the Life Sciences (ICLS) as part of its global mission to advance the cause of biosafety and biosecurity. From this evolving network, Pakistani scientists engaged in life science research and development decided to extend the ethos behind the BBIC process and the mission of ICLS deeper into Pakistan. This idea was carried forward by a number of concerned individuals who felt that building a network of biosafety and biosecurity inside Pakistan would not only bring national benefits but also enhance the possibilities for international collaboration, particularly regionally. An important element in this effort was that it should be locally led and not driven by an agenda specified by external donors, although this did not mean that external expertise and support were not welcome. To promote best practices up to international standards, however, the effort needed to be appropriate to the local technical and societal circumstances.