The key points in the editorial are:
- The terrorist attacks of the past few years have made us all more aware that the threat from biological weapons needs to be tackled urgently and on many fronts. International agreements such as the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) are one vital component.
- Collectively, the best scientists in both the UK and US must support policy makers in their efforts to make progress towards measures that will counteract the threat from advances in weapons technology that could be misused by governments or as terrorist threat agents.
- The scientific community can provide a range of tools that reduce the threat from biological weapons.
- In defining clear boundaries between what is classified and unclassified, governments must have access to the best scientists in each discipline.
- Individual scientists also have a key role to play. Every researcher, whether in academia, in government research facilities, or in industry, needs to be aware of the potential unintended consequences of their own and their colleagues research.