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Microbial threat lists: obstacles in the quest for biosecurity?

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 8, pages 149–154 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Anxiety about threats from the microbial world and about the deliberate misuse of microorganisms has led to efforts to define and control these dangers using lists and regulations. One list with tremendous legal implications and a potentially huge impact on research is the Select Agents and Toxins List, which was created by the US Government to limit the possession of and access to particular microorganisms and toxins. In this article, in addition to highlighting general problems with taxonomy-based, microorganism-centric lists, we discuss our view that such lists may have the paradoxical effect of increasing the societal vulnerability to biological attack and natural epidemics by interfering with the sharing of microbial samples and hindering research on vaccines and therapeutics.

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Acknowledgements

A.C. is supported in part by a Public Health Service award (grant 2U54AI057158-06) from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, US National Institiutes of Health (NIH). D.A.R. is supported in part by an NIH Pioneer Award and by a Doris Duke Charitable Trust Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arturo Casadevall is at the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology and of Medicine (Division of Infectious Diseases), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Ave, Bronx, New York, New York 10461, USA.,

    Arturo Casadevall

  2. David A. Relman is at the Departments of Medicine and of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California 94305, USA.,

    David A. Relman

Authors
  1. Arturo Casadevall
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  2. David A. Relman
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Correspondence to Arturo Casadevall.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Related links

Related links

DATABASES

Entrez Genome Project

Bacillus anthracis

Bacillus anthracis str. Sterne

Bacillus cereus

Bacillus thuringiensis

Burkholderia pseudomallei

Francisella tularensis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Phakopsora pachyrhizi

Saccharomyces cerevisiae

FURTHER INFORMATION

Arturo Casadevall's homepage

David Relman's homepage

Australia Group List

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Category A, B, and C Priority Pathogens List

National Select Agent Registry

PubMed

SATL

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Casadevall, A., Relman, D. Microbial threat lists: obstacles in the quest for biosecurity?. Nat Rev Microbiol 8, 149–154 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2299

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