The Myths and Realities of Synthetic BioWeapons

The dominant narrative permeating scientific and policy discussions on the security threat posed by synthetic biology can be summarized in five ways:

1. Synthetic biology is making it easier for non-experts to manipulate dangerous pathogens and, therefore, making it easier for terrorists to concoct bioweapons.
2. Synthetic biology has led to the growth of a do-it-yourself biology community that could offer dual-use knowledge and equipment to bioterrorists seeking to do harm.
3. DNA synthesis has become cheaper and can be out-sourced, making it easier for terrorists to obtain the basic materials to create biological threat agents.
4. Non-experts could use synthetic biology to design radically new pathogens.
5. Terrorists want to pursue biological weapons for high-consequence, mass- casualty attacks.

This narrative rests on misleading assumptions about both synthetic biology and bioterrorism, and these five myths are challenged by more realistic understandings of the scientific research currently being conducted in both professional and do-it-yourself laboratories, and by an analysis of historical cases of bioterrorism.

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