Making Death

The reconstruction of the 1918 avian flu virus raises some ethical and policy questions that have not gotten the attention they deserve in the bioethics community. Who is guaranteeing that this or other nasty little critters are being held in secure locations? What policies is the scientific community following with respect to publishing the genomes of dangerous microbes such as polio, ebola or Marburg viruses and how to use synthetic genomics to make them? And how should existing treaties governing biological warfare extend to the rapidly developing world of synthetic genomics and microbial engineering?
- Art Caplan