One now-inactive past project in this space that I would highlight (since I would very much like something similar to exist again) is The Sunshine Project. Quoting its (sadly very short) Wikipedia page:
The Sunshine Project worked by exposing research on biological and chemical weapons. Typically, it accessed documents under the Freedom of Information Act and other open records laws, publishing reports and encouraging action to reduce the risk of biological warfare. It tracked the construction of high containment laboratory facilities and the dual-use activities of the U.S. biodefense program.
In 2004, an activist named Edward Hammond fired up his fax machine and sent out letters to 390 institutional biosafety committees across the country. His request was simple: Show me your minutes.
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The committees “are the cornerstone of institutional oversight of recombinant DNA research,” according to the NIH, and at many institutions, their purview includes high-security labs and research on deadly pathogens.
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When Hammond began requesting minutes in 2004, he said, he intended to dig up information about bioweapons, not to expose cracks in biosafety oversight. But he soon found that many institutions were unwilling to hand over minutes, or were struggling to provide any record of their IBCs at all. For example, he recalled, Utah State was a hub of research into biological weapons agents. “And their biosafety committee had not met in like 10 years, or maybe ever,” Hammond said. “They didn’t have any records of it ever meeting.”
The Global BioLabs Initiative might have partly taken up the mantle. From their 2023 report: “The Global BioLabs initiative was launched in May 2021 in response to increased public interest in high-risk biological research and the facilities in which it takes place. The aim was to create an authoritative source on maximum containment laboratories and biorisk management policies around the world.”
@Tessa Do you think the existence of the Global BioLabs Initiative weakens the case for starting an NGO similar to the Sunshine Project? Or is there still lots of potential to add value?
One now-inactive past project in this space that I would highlight (since I would very much like something similar to exist again) is The Sunshine Project. Quoting its (sadly very short) Wikipedia page:
Some more on Edward Hammond’s work/methods show up in this press article on The Worrying Murkiness of Institutional Biosafety Committees:
Thanks—I hadn’t known about The Sunshine Project.
The Global BioLabs Initiative might have partly taken up the mantle. From their 2023 report: “The Global BioLabs initiative was launched in May 2021 in response to increased public interest in high-risk biological research and the facilities in which it takes place. The aim was to create an authoritative source on maximum containment laboratories and biorisk management policies around the world.”
@Tessa Do you think the existence of the Global BioLabs Initiative weakens the case for starting an NGO similar to the Sunshine Project? Or is there still lots of potential to add value?