National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB)

The NSABB is a US government federal advisory committee chartered to provide advice, guidance, and leadership regarding biosecurity oversight of dual use research, defined as biological research with legitimate scientific purpose that may be misused to pose a biologic threat to public health and/or national security. The NSABB is chartered to have up to 25 voting members with a broad range of expertise including molecular biology, microbiology, infectious diseases, biosafety, public health, veterinary medicine, plant health, national security, biodefense, law enforcement, scientific publishing, and related field. The NSABB also includes nonvoting ex officio members from 15 federal agencies and departments.

Website:
http://oba.od.nih.gov/biosecurity/about_nsabb.html

Code of Ethics: Enhancing Responsible Science - Considerations for the Development and Dissemination of Codes of Conduct for Dual Use Research

This report was undertaken in response to the United States Government’s request for advice on the development, utilization and promotion of codes of conduct for dual use research to interdisciplinary life scientists, and relevant professional groups. The Board’s recommendations address strategies to develop a code of conduct, the importance of strong institutional support for such endeavor, considerations for the dissemination of a code of conduct, and the need to assess the effectiveness of a code of conduct overtime. The report also provides two tools for developing a code of conduct: a toolkit that includes concrete steps in developing and disseminating a code of conduct for dual use research and an educational module on dual use research that may be used either alone or in conjunction with the toolkit.

View Biosecurity Code