PNAS policy on publication of sensitive material in the life sciences
- Nicholas R. Cozzarelli, Editor-in-Chief
On January 9, 2003, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) cosponsored a public meeting with the broad agenda “to bring together scientists and policy-makers to discuss whether current publication policies and practices in the life sciences could lead to the inadvertent disclosure of ‘sensitive’ information to those who might misuse it.” Several journals, including PNAS, had already developed procedures in this regard.
Participants in the January meeting discussed three recent papers (1–3) that some felt might benefit bioterrorists and therefore should have been modified or not published at all. Two of the papers were “Chemical Synthesis of Poliovirus cDNA: Generation of Infectious Virus in the Absence of Natural Template” (2) and “Expression of Mouse Interleukin-4 by a Recombinant Ectromelia Virus Suppresses Cytolytic Lymphocyte Responses and Overcomes Genetic Resistance to Mousepox” (3). The third paper in question, “Variola Virus Immune Evasion Design: Expression of a Highly Efficient Inhibitor of Human Complement” (1), was published last fall in PNAS. At that time, …
