The symposium of the German Ethics Council, the German Research Foundation and Leopoldina addressed the issues associated with the handling of security-relevant research.
Important and useful research findings from almost every branch of science can potentially be misused to do harm. This dual-use dilemma repeatedly triggers debate on the benefits and risks of individual research projects. In this context, the German Ethics Council published the statement “Biosecurity – Freedom and Responsibility of Research” and the German Research Foundation together with the Leopoldina, the guidelines “Scientific Freedom and Scientific Responsibility – Recommendations for Handling Security-Relevant Research”.