“Statement on scientific publication and security” fails to provide necessary guidelines
- Stanley Falkow, PNAS Editorial Board member and Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
The “statement on scientific publication and security,” recently published simultaneously in Science, PNAS, Nature, and the American Society for Microbiology journals, states that journals will now have a policy in which editors will screen and, if necessary, reject manuscripts submitted for publication if “an editor … conclude(s) that the potential harm of publication outweighs the potential societal benefits” (1).
Clearly there are individuals, groups, and even rogue governments that would be content to use biological agents to infect and kill others as a means for political gain or as part of a general philosophy for causing terror. Most of the concerns raised about what is or is not sensitive information revolve around pathogenic microorganisms, toxins, and other factors associated with infectious diseases of humans, livestock, and plant pathogens. It is not a new …
