Areas of Consensus and Improvement on Dual-Use Research of Concern (DURC) Risk, Ethics, and Oversight
Saturday, October 14, 2023
7:30 AM – 8:45 AM ET
Location: Iron (Fourth Floor)
Dual-use research of concern (DURC) and research with enhanced potential pandemic pathogens (ePPP) are two forms of biomedical research that could lead to low probability, high risk consequences, hence raising a population and research ethics dilemma. There is an ongoing conversation and uncertainty around 1) how to characterize the risk of such research; 2) how to evaluate its safety, and 3) how to construct research oversight in the U.S. and globally. In this qualitative project, we interviewed key stakeholders across a range of disciplines, including ethicists, policy makers, and research scientists, with the goal of understanding areas of consensus and disagreement on DURC and ePPP risk, ethics, and oversight. We found significant variation among different stakeholders on the risk of such research, current oversight policies, and optimal regulations. All stakeholders agreed that some form of research ethics oversight over DURC and ePPP research should exist, but varied on the type and stringency of oversight. Those that found the risk of population-wide harm from DURC / ePPP research to be greater generally believed existing oversight frameworks should be made stricter. These results signify there is an ongoing research ethics dilemma over DURC risk and oversight, there are divided views amongst stakeholders, and suggest that more consensus building and risk characterisation work is needed to adequately and ethically monitor this research type.