Legal and Moral Reflections on Modern Biotechnology in Use & Misuse

It is an established truth that science serves humanity by developing new and useful technologies, discovering new phenomena, forwarding knowledge and understanding. ‘Science seeks certainty … and tells us what we can do… but it is for the law to tell [science] whether and how to do’, even if it is in a climate of uncertainties. As a natural phenomenon, scientists tend to concentrate on the beneficial uses of scientific research, but each of them should also concentrate on the potential destructive misuses, in as far as is known, assumed or reasonably predicted. Considering the fast accumulation of sophisticated scientific and biotechnological information, it is upon the scientist and his community to inform and warn the public about the potential destructive misuses of biotechnological research and findings. It is instrumental for the public to be aware of the risks posed by certain dangerous biological agents that are used, manipulated or developed in the course of biotechnological research. The public must be aware of and be reminded that certain biological agents can be used as biological lethal weapons for mass-destruction, or misused for deliberately inflicting infectious diseases. This can be done either by directly spreading common pathogens or by indirectly contaminating food-products, water resources, crops, animal food and feed, etc. It is known that certain lethal biological agents can be transformed into more lethal forms or may even be specifically engineered as such. It is upon the public at large, in applying its collective moral conscience, guided by relevant knowledge and information, to choose what scientific research and advanced technologies should be furthered, banned, or temporarily withheld. It is to be emphasized that the international community has already long ago expressed its determination ‘to exclude completely the possibility of bacteriological (biological) agents and toxins being used as weapons…[it being] repugnant to the conscience of mankind’.