Creating Enforceable Biosecurity Standards for Nucleic Acid Providers

Although there is broad agreement among biosecurity experts that nucleic acid synthesis providers should screen orders for potential threats, there is no agreed upon mechanism to verify whether a provider is implementing effective screening practices. This leads to economic costs for responsible actors, unverifiable claims of screening, and regulatory hesitation. The sequence biosecurity risk consortium (SBRC) aims to address these problems by developing a standard definition of 'sequences of concern' based on a scientific assessment of biosecurity risk from synthetic nucleic acids. Building on this effort, we outline a roadmap for moving from aspirational to enforceable standards via industry-led standards development, with support and participation from government regulators.