ELSI and bioterrorism countermeasures?

To the editor:

As outlined in a news item in your March issue (Nat. Biotechnol. 22, 256–267, 2004), the United States' proposed appropriations of billions of dollars for bioterror preparedness in 2005 and, presumably, beyond, constitute a scientific and sociopolitical endeavor unprecedented in scope. The only other undertaking that has approached this magnitude as “a major federal R&D priority” in recent history was the Human Genome Project (HGP). In contrast to the present initiative, however, it was recognized immediately that the HGP had ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) that needed to be the focus of concerted research efforts. With laudable foresight and responsibility, 3%–5% of the annual HGP budget was earmarked for ELSI research from the outset of the project. This begs a very important question: shouldn't a portion of the bioterror preparedness budget be similarly allocated to ELSI research?