"Thousands of people can now assemble infectious viruses from a genome sequence and commercially available synthetic DNA, and numerous projects aim to..identify new viruses that could cause pandemics"
thebulletin.org
thebulletin.org
"If a single terrorist with the necessary skills were to release a new virus equivalent to SARS-CoV-2, which has claimed 20 million, that person would have killed more people than if they were to detonate a nuclear warhead in a dense city."
"If they were to release numerous such viruses across multiple travel hubs, the resulting pandemics could not plausibly be contained, and would spread much faster than even the most rapidly produced biomedical countermeasures."
"And if one of those viruses spread as easily as the omicron variant—which rapidly infected millions of people within weeks of being identified—but had the lethality of smallpox, which killed..30% of those infected, the subsequent loss..could trigger the collapse of..societies."
"Congress could address catastrophic risks by clarifying that individuals and institutions will be held liable for..actions leading to any catastrophe,,—including sharing blueprints later used by terrorists—and requiring insurance to cover..liability"
"There is precedent: While capped by the Price-Anderson Act, nuclear power plant operators are already liable for the consequences of terrorist sabotage."
"Catastrophe liability and insurance can ensure that low-probability, high-consequence risks are factored into decision-making, allowing formal insurer risk assessments to shift costs from taxpayers to those who would perform or fund the research."
"Any project posing so much catastrophic risk that funders are unwilling to cover the extra insurance premiums should not proceed."
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