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Published online 14 June 2006 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news060612-5
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Newspaper investigation highlights bioterror fears
UK firm unknowingly synthesizes smallpox fragment.
A recent investigation in a UK newspaper has highlighted the gulf between what is utterly routine within the research and biotech communities and what can shock the outside world, including legislators.
In a front-page article in The Guardian on 14 June, the newspaper's science correspondent describes how he arranged for a tiny fragment of the smallpox genome to be synthesized by a mail-order biological-supplies company and delivered to his home address.
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