On Thursday, 11 May 2023, the state of Florida enacted a law that bans research that is “reasonably likely to create an enhanced potential pandemic pathogen,” or ePPP. The law, Florida Statues section 381.875, is the first of its kind in the US and marks a major victory in the fight to prevent future lab-generated pandemics.
We, the undersigned, applaud the new Florida law banning ePPP research. We urge other US states to adopt similar legislation.
Potential pandemic pathogens are viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms that are highly virulent and highly transmissible. Examples include the viruses that cause COVID-19, SARS, MERS, Ebola, Marburg, and Lassa fever. An ePPP is a potential pandemic pathogen that scientists have manipulated (e.g., for scientific, commercial, or military applications) and made even more virulent or more transmissible than the naturally occurring strain. Laboratory accidents that happen during the course of ePPP research have the potential to trigger devastating pandemics.
ePPP research is scientifically unethical, as it places the public at risk without their consent. ePPP research also has limited benefits, as it does not meaningfully contribute to the development of vaccines or disease treatments. The US federal government has, for decades, failed to enact legislation that meaningfully protects US citizens and the global public from the dangers of ePPP research. Indeed, the US federal government actively puts its citizens and the global public at risk by continuing to fund ePPP research, both in the US and in other countries. This funding continues despite multiple US federal agencies assessing that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) may have originated as an ePPP that accidentally escaped from a research lab that had been funded by the US federal government.
Bill has been introduced in the Wisconsin state legislature to ban gain-of-function research on potential pandemic pathogens.
This is an important step. Legislators in all 50 states should pass state bans on enhancing potential pandemic pathogens (while White House dithers). pic.twitter.com/RboMuGsXgb
— Richard H. Ebright (@R_H_Ebright) August 15, 2023
U Wisconsin claims that enhanced potential pandemic pathogen research "is needed and highly regulated" and that regulation will "limit..ability of..authorities to prepare and respond to threats" and "hamstring..growth of..biotech and biomedical sector."
— Richard H. Ebright (@R_H_Ebright) August 15, 2023
These claims are false. pic.twitter.com/K436MvA944