Risks and Benefits of Gain-of-Function Experiments with Pathogens of Pandemic Potential, Such as Influenza Virus: a Call for a Science-Based Discussion

Casadevall, Arturo; Imperiale, Michael J.

When recombinant DNA technology first came into use, scientists and others convened at Asilomar to discuss the risks and benefits and to chart a path forward that would allow this important technology to be used safely (23, 24) . The controversy over the HPAIV GOF experiments has led to calls for another Asilomar-like conference. The goal of such a conference would be to bring the parties interested in the issues related to GOF experiments together with the hope of finding common ground and finding a way to allow GOF research to go forward with minimal risk and maximal benefit. We think this is a good idea, and this was our primary intent in signing the CWG document. However, we caution that the times are very different now than in 1975, when the Asilomar meeting took place. Today, communication by e-mail and Twitter is instantaneous, and the information conveyed by these new media is different than the phone conversations and mail correspondence of that time. In fact, to date, much of the discussion between the interested camps on GOF research has been "Twitter-like," with statements made via general media or e-mail messages to supporters. This type of communication reduces complex issues to terse, often definitive-sounding statements that can be polarizing. Thus, we think that there must be a broad-based, rational, face-to-face discussion. Hence, if such a conference is to be convened, we call on the organizers to assemble groups with wide representation of individuals with a direct stake in this research as well as thoughtful scientists with no skin in the game, to tackle such issues as risk-benefit, ethics, biosafety, biosecurity, etc. Ideally, just like treaty negotiations between countries, much of the work should be done by smaller groups that explore the various issues and identify areas where consensus is possible and those where both sides must agree to disagree. The conference would then function to inform on areas that hopefully have been agreed to, or explored and found to have no common ground, as well as involving all participants in more focused discussions. Interestingly, a similar call for discussion of the risks and benefits was recently raised with respect to the rapidly advancing use of gene drives, a research area ripe with risk-benefit uncertainties similar to those of the influenza virus GOF experiments (25, 26) .