Note that Lentzos has also been critical of Bill Gates for drawing attention to the risk of terrorists using bioweapons. She thinks that terrorists are unlikely to deploy powerful bioweapons (because they won’t have the capabilities and because they won’t have the motivation) and by talking about bioterrorists, Gates might draw attention away from state actors. https://thebulletin.org/2017/07/ignore-bill-gates-where-bioweapons-focus-really-belongs/
She’s written more about why she thinks concern about terrorists using synthetic biology to create WMDs are based on myths. Her main points of disagreement with what she calls the dominant narrative:
1. Synthetic biology is not easy.
2. Do-it-yourself biology is not particularly sophisticated.
3. Building a dangerous virus from scratch is hard.
4. Even experts have a hard time enhancing disease pathogens.
5. Terrorists aren’t interested in making WMD bioweapons.
6. There are serious technical and logistical barriers to creating a bioweapon that’s a WMD.
Note that Lentzos has also been critical of Bill Gates for drawing attention to the risk of terrorists using bioweapons. She thinks that terrorists are unlikely to deploy powerful bioweapons (because they won’t have the capabilities and because they won’t have the motivation) and by talking about bioterrorists, Gates might draw attention away from state actors. https://thebulletin.org/2017/07/ignore-bill-gates-where-bioweapons-focus-really-belongs/
She’s written more about why she thinks concern about terrorists using synthetic biology to create WMDs are based on myths. Her main points of disagreement with what she calls the dominant narrative:
1. Synthetic biology is not easy.
2. Do-it-yourself biology is not particularly sophisticated.
3. Building a dangerous virus from scratch is hard.
4. Even experts have a hard time enhancing disease pathogens.
5. Terrorists aren’t interested in making WMD bioweapons.
6. There are serious technical and logistical barriers to creating a bioweapon that’s a WMD.
https://thebulletin.org/2014/09/the-myths-and-realities-of-synthetic-bioweapons/