The Lessons of Asilomar for Today’s Science

There is a precedent for establishing internationally agreed-upon limits for new science, though it can be hard to do.

In 1973, scientists who were using novel molecular techniques to splice DNA between different organisms asked the National Academy of Sciences to consider the potential hazards as they might affect the public. In July 1974, an Academy-appointed committee publicly called for a large category of experiments to be suspended until leaders in the field could plan a way forward. Such a self-imposed moratorium on basic research was unprecedented, but it worked.

A hundred and fifty scientists and physicians from around the world gathered in February 1975 at the Asilomar conference center near Monterey, California, in what one scientist termed an amazing show of “self denial and social responsibility in the face of strong intellectual temptation” to continue the experiments.

The outcome of the meeting was equally impressive. Categories of experiments were graded by their riskiness: Some were deemed excessively dangerous and kept off-limits, while others were to be allowed once the appropriate biological and physical means of risk-containment had...