SCIENTISTS IN FAVOR OF GOVERNMENTALLY REGULATED CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS AND ACCREDITATION OF RESEARCHERS

The Science Advisory Board polled its visitors about the governments roll in regulating research with dangerous pathogens. Over 1,400 participated in this opinion poll.

SCIENTISTS IN FAVOR OF GOVERNMENTALLY REGULATED CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS AND ACCREDITATION OF RESEARCHERS

ARLINGTON, VA – December 21, 2001 -- As the United States Congress debates the Deadly Biological Agent Control Act of 2001 introduced in both the Senate (S.1661) and the House of Representatives (H.R.3306), The Science Advisory Board polled its visitors about the governments roll in regulating research with dangerous pathogens. Over 1,400 participated in this opinion poll. Of these, 58% believe that access to sequence data of potentially dangerous pathogens should require governmentally regulated criminal background checks and accreditation of researchers. 28% disagreed and half this percentage was not sure about this level of regulation.

Currently, researchers wanting to receive such pathogens need to register with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They must provide documentation that they have a legitimate use for the pathogen and undergo routine laboratory inspections. Individual violators can be fined $250,000 or sent to jail for one year. However, there are other means by which researchers – and anyone else for that matter – could procure dangerous pathogens. Using anthrax as an example, individuals could theoretically obtain it from the appropriate soil environment. A more common route would be through exchanges with ones scientific colleagues at hospital and university laboratories where safeguards sometimes are not always in place or if they are, then not always enforced.

The new legislation that Congress is considering requires researchers planning on using dangerous pathogens to register with the Federal government before obtaining specimens and outlaws possession of certain pathogens by any non-US citizens residing in the United States. The government has identified around 30 organisms that it considers to be high risk. The legislation also criminalizes possession of microbes if their use and handling shows a disregard for public safety. The Science Advisory Board is recommending an additional level of protection over what is being considered in Congress and that is the actual regulation of these pathogens sequence data," states Dr. Tamara Zemlo, Director of Scientific & Medical Communications of The Science Advisory Board.

Researchers interested in participating in studies for The Science Advisory Board may register at http://www.scienceboard.net, or contact Molly Scott, Membership Coordinator for The Science Advisory Board, at m.scott@scienceboard.net for membership information and study details. Researchers identity and personal information will be held in the strictest confidence, and they will receive compensation for any studies in which they choose to participate.

ABOUT THE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD

The Science Advisory Board (http://www.scienceboard.net) is an online panel of more than 6,000 scientists, physicians and other life science and medical professionals from 62 countries. By convening electronically, Science Advisory Board members participate in online studies to voice their opinions on issues that directly affect the evolution and development of the tools and techniques of their professions. The Science Advisory Board was organized in 1997 by BioInformatics, LLC (http://www.gene2drug.com), a research and consulting firm located in Arlington, VA.