This policy change is long overdue. COVID showed exactly what happens when risky lab experiments go unchecked. The new policy establishes real accountability at every level, from researchers to institutions to funding agencies, replacing a system that was essentially grading its own homework. Taxpayer dollars should never bankroll experiments that could trigger the next pandemic.
Banning GOF research without fixing the oversight system that enabled it misses the point. Past risk assessments excluded known lab accidents, buried flawed methodology in appendices and handed pandemic-level policy decisions to scientific boards with no democratic accountability. Real reform means independent risk analysis, congressional oversight and transparent methodology.
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