Giuseppe
Emeritus
[Source: mBio, full text: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]
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The NSABB Recommendations: Rationale, Impact, and Implications
Paul S. Keim
Author Affiliations: National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, Office of Biotechnology Activities, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA; and the Translational Genomics Research Institute, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Address correspondence to paul.keim@nau.edu.
ABSTRACT
The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) has recommended that two scientific papers concerning the laboratory adaptation of avian H5N1 influenza virus to mammal-to-mammal respiratory transmission restrict their content to prevent others from replicating their work. After hearing from experts in the field of influenza research and public health, the benefits of the research were deemed less important than the potential negative consequences. The evaluation followed established NSABB procedures and prior policy recommendations for identifying dual use research of concern (DURC). This recommendation was received by the United States Government, endorsed and forwarded to the research teams and scientific journals involved with the publications.
Footnotes
Citation Keim PS. 2012. The NSABB recommendations: rationale, impact, and implications. mBio 3(1):e00021-12. doi:10.1128/mBio.00021-12
Copyright ? 2012 Keim
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License, which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
-Author Affiliations: National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, Office of Biotechnology Activities, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA; and the Translational Genomics Research Institute, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Address correspondence to paul.keim@nau.edu.
ABSTRACT
The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) has recommended that two scientific papers concerning the laboratory adaptation of avian H5N1 influenza virus to mammal-to-mammal respiratory transmission restrict their content to prevent others from replicating their work. After hearing from experts in the field of influenza research and public health, the benefits of the research were deemed less important than the potential negative consequences. The evaluation followed established NSABB procedures and prior policy recommendations for identifying dual use research of concern (DURC). This recommendation was received by the United States Government, endorsed and forwarded to the research teams and scientific journals involved with the publications.
Footnotes
Citation Keim PS. 2012. The NSABB recommendations: rationale, impact, and implications. mBio 3(1):e00021-12. doi:10.1128/mBio.00021-12
Copyright ? 2012 Keim
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License, which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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