Thread by @TheSeeker268

"Given what we’ve been through over the past year, you’d imagine that governments are already working to tighten up international regulation of pathogens." This is a big issue that ain't getting the kind of attention it deserves.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

"You might assume there’s an international organization filled with well-educated bureaucrats and scientists in Brussels or Geneva that is busy conducting rigorous spot checks of virus research labs to ensure they’re up to code."

"But it turns out the real story isn’t comforting at all...When it comes to studying, tampering with or producing new viruses, the international system is the Wild West."

"It’s high time we put a sheriff in charge.

One person who has thought a lot about who that sheriff might be is @FilippaLentzos, a senior lecturer in science and international security at King’s College London...And what she has to say isn’t reassuring."

"There are no international regulations [on those labs]. There’s no set international law that they have to follow. There's nobody checking what they're doing. There are no inspectors, no regulators. There's none of that.”

“You cannot track them because there’s not even an official international list of global BSL-4 labs,” she explains.

"Lentzos is working on a project to create a comprehensive list, the first step in pushing for greater oversight. But her list keeps getting longer."

"Lentzos has therefore advocated for a series of reforms to govern labs that work on dangerous pathogens with pandemic potential."
kcl.ac.uk/news/act-now-t…