The US will tighten rules for studying bacteria and viruses

The United States will introduce stricter rules for conducting research on potentially dangerous pathogens and toxins to prevent laboratory accidents that could trigger a pandemic, the presidential administration announced. The rules will come into force in a year.

Government oversight of government-funded research will be strengthened. The small list of dangerous pathogens will be replaced by a wide list; attention will be paid not only to viruses dangerous to humans, but also to those that threaten livestock farming and crops.

Now microbiologists, in order to conduct experiments with dangerous microorganisms, will have to submit descriptions of such experiments to their universities or research institutes, which will have to determine whether they pose a risk, writes The New York Times. Potentially dangerous proposals will be sent to government agencies for review.

The tightening of rules does not affect the private sector.

The publication of the new regulations took place after several years of work by the expert group and heated discussions in society about the origin of the covid-19 pathogen: in the livestock market or in a Chinese laboratory that, among other things, dealt with biological weapons, the NYT notes. Some researchers have expressed concern that authorities have previously been too lax about laboratory safety, and there have been calls for the creation of a special agency to oversee risky experiments. Their opponents saw additional regulation as a danger to valuable research.

Proponents of the laboratory origin of the virus have raised concerns about “gain of function” (GoFR) studies. In their framework, scientists endow pathogens with new abilities. This method is widely used in microbiological research. But only a small portion of such research involves hazardous agents that require the strictest biosafety measures.

The NYT notes that the changes do not cover the most radical proposals of laboratory safety advocates, such as creating an independent regulator in this area. The new rules also provide exceptions for certain types of research, including disease surveillance and vaccine development. Some parts of the document are recommendations rather than mandatory requirements.

In April, The Guardian, citing an international study, reported that 57% of scientists surveyed named a new mutation of the influenza virus as the cause of a new pandemic in the near future. 21% of survey participants suggested that the most likely cause of a pandemic after the flu would be “Disease X,” caused by an as yet unidentified microorganism that “will appear out of nowhere.” This was the case with the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which led to the COVID-19 pandemic .

That same month, the World HEALTH Organization (WHO) warned of the possible spread of an avian influenza mutation to humans following reports of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks among dairy cows in the United States.