Bicameral Letter Issued to OSTP Director on Establishing Biosecurity Guardrails in DNA Research
Summary
On April 1, 2024, Reps. Julia Brownley (D-CA), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Neal P. Dunn (R-FL), Bill Foster (D-IL), Andy Harris (R-MD), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Rich McCormick (R-GA), August Pfluger (R-TX), Haley Stevens (D-MI), alongside Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), sent a letter to Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director Arati Prabhakar, in which they urged her to issue the framework around mitigating risks associated with synthetic nucleic acids, emphasizing safety and innovation in gene synthesis practices. The letter calls on OSTP to include funding for infrastructure to facilitate screening, the implementation of biannual confidential stress-testing reporting, and international engagement to harmonize gene synthesis screening protocols.
