DUAL-USE TECHNOLOGIES OF CONCERN IN CONTEXT OF BIOSAFETY (review)
PDF

Keywords

biosafety, investigation of DUAL-USE TECHNOLOGIES OF CONCERN, DURC criteria, DURC recommendations.

How to Cite

Ashcheulova, T., & Ambrosova, T. (2021). DUAL-USE TECHNOLOGIES OF CONCERN IN CONTEXT OF BIOSAFETY (review). Inter Collegas, 8(1), 4-9. https://doi.org/10.35339/ic.8.1.4-9

Abstract

One of the main prerequisites for creation and dissemination of bioethics in the world was the concept of dual use in medical and biological sciences, which is defined as the direction of unintentional creation of biological threats in research or implementation of new biotechnologies. To determine the range of dual-use research that could potentially generate products, technologies, or knowledge whose misuse could harm large numbers of people or the environment and that are biosafety-relevant, the international term  Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC) is used.  Actualization  of the debate on the dilemma of dual use in biomedical sciences is due to, on the one hand, the international community's attempt to minimize the potential for destructive use of biomedical research, on the other hand, the active search for effective ways to raise awareness of their social and moral responsibility for implementation of the results of scientific developments in the field of life. This article  considers the definition of terms that define the field of DURC in the context of biosafety, which in recent decades have undergone a number of semantic changes. The article also outlines the modern general concept of DURC, defines the categories by which DURC is defined, and outlines the scope of policy on the implementation of control over DURC. Informing the scientific community engaged in biomedical research about the problem issues of DURC biotechnology  is a key component of biosafety. Modern biotechnology and related biosafety issues should be applied to society needs, but without compromising human and environmental safety. Systematic consideration of all these disputable questions of the dual-use dilemma with the involvement of all stakeholders will allow to form a rational biosafety policy for biotechnology.

https://doi.org/10.35339/ic.8.1.4-9
PDF

References

Miller, S., Selgelid, M. J. (2007). Ethical and philosophical consideration of the dual-use dilemma in the biological sciences. Sci. Eng. Ethics, 13, 523-580. doi: 10.1007/s11948-007-9043-4.

Douglas, T., Savulescu, J. (2010). Synthetic biology and the ethics of knowledge. Journal of Medical Ethics, 36, 687–693.

Ehni, H.J. (2008). Dual-use and the ethical responsibility of scientists. Archivum Immunologiae Therapiae Experimentalis, 56, 147–152.

Atlas, R. M., Dando, M. R. (2006). The dual-use dilemma for the life sciences: perspectives, conundrums, and global solutions. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, 4, 276–286.

Millet, P. (2010). The Biological Weapons Convention: Securing biology in the twenty-first century. Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 15 (1), 25–43.

Meselson, M., Robinson, J. P. (2002). Adraft convention to prohibit biological and chemical weapons under international criminal law. InYepes-Enriquez, R., Tabassi, L. (eds.)Treaty Enforcement and International Cooperation in Criminal Matters, pp. 457–469. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Meselson, M. (2000). Averting the Hostile Exploitation of Biotechnology CBW Conventions Bulletin, 48, 16–19.

National Research Council (2004). Biotechnology Research in an Age of Terrorism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10827

National Research Council (2006). Globalization, Biosecurity, and the Future of the Life Sciences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/11567

Berns, K.I., Casadevall, A., Cohen, M.L. (2012). Public health and biosecurity: adaptations of avian flu virus are a cause for concern. Science, 335, 660–661. doi: 10.1126/science.1217994.

National Institutes of Health. (2012). United States Government policy for oversight of life sciences dual use research of concern. http://osp.od.nih.gov/office-biotechnology-activities/biosecurity/dual-use-research-concern.

National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (2007). Proposed framework for the oversight of dual use life science research: strategies for minimizing the potential misuse of research information. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. http://osp.od.nih.gov/sites/default/files/resources/Framework%20for%20transmittal%20duplex%209-10-07.pdf

"Inter Collegas" is an open access journal: all articles are published in open access without an embargo period, under the terms of the CC BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons Attribution ‒ Noncommercial ‒ Share Alike) license; the content is available to all readers without registration from the moment of its publication. Electronic copies of the archive of journals are placed in the repositories of the KhNMU and V.I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine.