Scope of Research Requiring Oversight Under Dual Use Research of Concern
Agents and Toxins
Research that uses one or more of the agents or toxins listed below, and produces, aims to produce, or can be reasonably anticipated to produce one or more of the effects listed in the following categories of experiments will be evaluated for DURC potential. The Institutional Contact shall revise this policy to update the list of agents and toxins and the categories of experiments from time to time as updates are made in the Federal government Policies and Companion Guide.
Agents and toxins:
- Avian influenza virus (highly pathogenic)
- Bacillus anthracis
- Botulinum neurotoxin (For the purposes of this policy, there are no exempt quantities of botulinum neurotoxin. Research involving any quantity of botulinum neurotoxin should be evaluated for DURC potential.)
- Burkholderia mallei
- Burkholderia pseudomallei
- Ebola virus
- Foot-and-mouth disease virus
- Francisella tularensis
- Marburg virus
- Reconstructed 1918 Influenza virus
- Rinderpest virus
- Toxin-producing strains of Clostridium botulinum
- Variola major virus
- Variola minor virus
- Yersinia pestis
Notes: The 15 agents and toxins listed in this policy are subject to the select agent regulations (42 CFR Part 73, 7 CFR Part 331, and 9 CFR Part 121), which set forth the requirements for possession, use, and transfer of select agents and toxins, and have the potential to pose a severe threat to human, animal, or plant health, or to animal or plant products.
Research involving use of any of the 15 listed agents is not intended to include research that involves only the use of attenuated forms of these agents or the genes from these agents.
Research that does not use any of the listed agents or toxins will also be evaluated for DURC potential as described in this policy.