Milk Safety

PNAS editors also published a lengthy editorial explaining their reasons for going ahead with the paper. In the editorial they noted that the critical information is, "immediately accessible on the World Wide Web through a simple Google search."

They added, "we are convinced that the guidance offered in this article on how to anticipate, model, and minimize a Botulinum toxin attack can be valuable for biodefense."

Using mathematical models Wein and Liu demonstrated how this security issue could be exploited and lead to several hundred thousand people getting sick, and tens of thousands of them dying. As Wein puts it, "Milk can be a weapon of mass destruction."

While the issue of food safety and terrorism is not new, the researchers, as Wein calls it, "quantified the uncertainty." However, federal officials called it a roadmap for terrorists, and are asking that PNAS not publish the paper.

Responding to the request from the Department of Health and Human Services, the PNAS said "In response to an HHS request, PNAS and the NAS (National Academy of Sciences) have agreed to take another look at the PNAS paper in question. Publication of the PNAS article has been delayed from its original release date. New publication dates will be announced. Under standard PNAS policy, the paper was originally evaluated for scientific merit and potential biosecurity issues."

PNAS and other scientific journals, including Nature and Science, announced in 2003 that they would police what they publish in the interest of national security.