Science Censors Itself For War Effort

National Post ^ | February 17, 2003 | Anne Marie Owens

[Loyalist]

Science censors itself for war effort
Journals try to keep sensitive findings out of terrorists' hands

The world's leading science journals will no longer publish details of research that might somehow aid terrorists, even if it means withholding information that could advance scientific knowledge.

The unusual self-censorship agreement was announced at a major gathering of scientists this weekend. It reflects the current social climate in which security is paramount -- but some experts say it should be viewed with caution because of its potential to stifle research.

The new policy has been adopted by 32 publications and scientific associations, including the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet and Nature.

The editors say they will set up in-house expert panels to review dangerous papers. They say research papers are unlikely to be rejected outright, but rather would be subjected to negotiations aimed at toning down certain aspects of the research.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal has not been asked to pledge its commitment to this new policy, and the journal's editor remains wary of such self-regulation.

"The solution to preventing terrorism presumably is not to hide information," said John Hoey, CMAJ editor. "Eventually, this all becomes available.... I don't know who would enforce the rules on something like this or how."

Margaret Somerville, one of Canada's leading ethicists, said she finds it encouraging that scientists are considering the consequences of their research, rather than adopting the traditional stance that science should be treated as value-free.

"I believe in a basic assumption of free access to scientific knowledge. But, on the other hand, we are living in extraordinary times," said Dr. Somerville, the founding director of McGill University's Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law.

"If you say, 'What does the new normal require of us?', there's a very strong argument for responsibility and for being careful about what we do."

The new policy was announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver, with the concession that it requires editors to tread "a very fine line" to protect the public and yet still foster the free flow of scientific knowledge.

The agreement follows intense behind-the-scenes debate over how best to accommodate the U.S. government's calls for greater scientific secrecy, particularly in the wake of anthrax attacks.

One of the leading proponents of the policy is Ronald Atlas, president of the American Society of Microbiology. He said, "I don't want to be the one that publishes 'Here's how to weaponize anthrax' and find someone tomorrow used that and killed hundreds of thousands of people."

One of the examples used to show how this new voluntary review process would work was drawn from a study submitted to a microbiology journal last year. The journal convinced the study's authors to remove references about how a certain microbe could be modified to kill a million people instead of 10,000.

Another hypothetical example is a study that details the rate at which an infection spreads. "It could be of tremendous value in immunization and quarantine strategies, but it could also be of tremendous value to someone trying to evade those strategies," explained Donald Kennedy, editor of the journal Science.

The various journals and organizations intend to further explain the new policy in editorials this week.

"We recognize that on occasion an editor may conclude that the potential harm of publication outweighs the potential societal benefits. Under such circumstances, the paper should be modified or not be published," says the weekend statement endorsed by a coalition of journal editors, scientists and U.S. government officials.

© Copyright 2003 National Post

[grobdriver]

Science censors itself for war effort

This is amazing.
In the current junk-science-get-my-name-out-there, peer-review,-what-peer-review? world, I have to be a cynic and wonder how long this will last.
Kudos to the science community for trying, though!

[Amerigomag]

Troubling window dressing since the US allows thousands of foreign students to enroll as undergraduates and graduate students in our cutting edge technology universities, some of which are from Mr. Bush's friends, the "axis of evil".

[contessa machiaveli]

i have first hand knowledge that the number of american born physics students is infinitesimal, it's rather frightening especially when i see names of certain ethnic groups.