Preventing Bioterrorism Through International Controls of Scientific Information: Obstacles and Efforts with the Dual Use Dilemma.

The dual use dilemma in the life sciences presents many issues of first impression. The U.S. is taking the lead in addressing this issue, but efforts within the U.S. are slow in coming. Therefore, several recommendations are offered to help jumpstart the awareness, confidence and consensus building efforts for domestic and international stakeholders. To this end it is suggested that analysis of dual use move from an emphasis on the concept of intent, which is often associated with the popular risk-benefit approach, to a lethality analysis. A focus on the lethal use gradient would help clarify the risks and duties associated with dual use science which supersede intent. By focusing on the lethal use gradient it will be easier to get past the hurdle of raising awareness within the national and international communities. Stakeholders appear to be avoiding use of the lethality gradient for fear of raising alarm, but upfront and responsible communication of this unavoidable information will help inoculate from unnecessary alarm in the face of future biosecurity threats or scares. It is likewise offered that using the most extreme peak of the lethality gradient, i.e. destabilizing science, although hypothetical will help build consensus and advance the development of the important but elusive details of a comprehensive oversight system. The emerging nomenclature is analyzed in an attempt to unify the concepts necessary to develop a well reasoned oversight system. Finally, the outline for a new Jurisdiction for Education Compact is introduced to build permanent alliances with foreign students who come to the U.S. to study. These are individual trilateral compacts between nations and students that would provide assurances that students retreating to home territories will be held to the same laws and codes on dual use science to which their educational cohort and mentors in the U.S. are bound. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]