2018/11/12 by Gregory W. Lewis, Gregory Lewis, Piers Millett +4 · 3 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Bacillus and Francisella bacterial research
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/risa.13235
openalex publication_date 2018/11/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
With the advance of biotechnology, biological information, rather than biological materials, is increasingly the object of principal security concern. We argue that both in theory and in practice, existing security approaches in biology are poorly suited to manage hazardous biological information, and use the cases of Mousepox, H5N1 gain of function, and Botulinum toxin H to highlight these ongoing challenges. We suggest that mitigation of these hazards can be improved if one can: (1) anticipate hazard potential before scientific work is performed; (2) consider how much the new information would likely help both good and bad actors; and (3) aim to disclose information in the manner that maximally disadvantages bad actors versus good ones.