Premium
Information Hazards in Biotechnology
Author(s) -
Lewis Gregory,
Millett Piers,
Sandberg Anders,
SnyderBeattie Andrew,
Gronvall Gigi
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
risk analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1539-6924
pISSN - 0272-4332
DOI - 10.1111/risa.13235
Subject(s) - principal (computer security) , hazard , function (biology) , information security , hazardous waste , risk analysis (engineering) , business , computer science , computer security , biology , ecology , evolutionary biology
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.