WHO issued Global guidance framework for the responsible use of the life sciences

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued the Global guidance framework for the responsible use of the life sciences on September 13.

• This is the first global, technical and normative framework for informing the development of national frameworks and approaches for mitigating biorisks and governing dual-use research.

Key highlights

• The framework aims to safely unlock the great promise for new and improved ways to improve global health offered by life sciences and related technologies.

• The Framework calls on leaders and other stakeholders to mitigate biorisks and safely govern dual-use research, which has a clear benefit but can be misused to harm humans, other animals, agriculture and the environment.

• The Framework is intended as the go-to starting point for the development and strengthening of biorisk management, which relies on three core pillars: biosafety, laboratory biosecurity and the oversight of dual-use research.

• Ministries of health are called upon to work with other ministries, including of science and technology, education, agriculture, environment and defense, along with other key stakeholders, to assess the risks posed by life sciences locally and nationally, and identify appropriate risk mitigation measures to strengthen governance for biorisks and dual-use research.

• The Framework calls for providing low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with technical and financial support and empowering their scientists through opportunities to pursue and govern life sciences.

What is life sciences?

• The life sciences include all sciences that deal with living organisms, including humans, nonhuman animals, plants and agriculture, and the environment, or products of living organisms or that incorporate components derived directly or synthetically from living organisms; the life sciences include but are not limited to biology, biotechnology, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, pharmaceutical and biomedical research and technologies.

• The life sciences are increasingly crossing over with other fields, such as chemistry, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology, which changes the landscape of risks, with those that span multiple sectors and disciplines more likely to be missed.