US suspends risky disease research

Science writer Sara Reardon discusses the announcement from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) that it would be instituting a forced moratorium on gain-of-function research on influenza, SARS, and MERS viruses. Reardon notes the mixed reception within the scientific community, with some praising the decision as an opportunity for deliberation of the research’s risks and others characterizing the decision as an overreaction. Some researchers also noted that the line between what research did and did not fall under the ban was unclear, a determination the White House clarified would be made on a case-by-case basis negotiated between researchers and funding officers.