Is an FBI Agent a DIY Biologist Like Any Other? A Cultural Analysis of a Biosecurity Risk

Abstract

Biotechnology's promises has been widely recognized as a major enterprise accelerating the commodification of the biological. After the 9/11 events and the subsequent anthrax letters, biotechnologies have additionally been described as contributing to the construction of biosecurity risks. This paper proposes to investigate the collaboration between the FBI and the DIYbio (Do-It-Yourself biology) network as a case study illustrating the productive entanglement of biological risks and promises. To do so, the paper explores the social construction of risks and promises associated with the vision of distributed biotechnologies as enacted in this collaboration. We argue that the FBI needs to police the DIYbio network in order to disseminate a specific notion of bioterrorist risk, while, in a counter-intuitive manner, the DIYbio network benefits from being policed by the FBI as it helps them disseminate their socio-technological vision. If the entanglement of technoscientific risks and promises is a well established finding of the STS literature, our case study suggests that such entanglement now additionally comprises the sphere of biosecurity and the promises of a distributed biotechnology available to everyone.

The 2017 Arizona Biosecurity Workshop

“…23 In addition, the FBI has been involved in organizing and meeting with international DIY groups to address biosecurity. 24,25 While DIY biology laboratories are a place for motivated high school or even grade school students to learn, there are unique challenges. For example, it is important to consider what assessments are necessary to determine whether participants have the appropriate knowledge to safely perform experiments.…”

Distributed Biotechnology

“…This scenario generated friction with certain European groups. Yet, it also helped construct distributed biotechnology as a promissory field while redefining the risks associated with it as scientific and financial rather than, for example, linked to bioterrorism (Tocchetti and Aguiton 2015).…”

Real Vegan Cheese and the Artistic Critique of Biotechnology

“…The development of communal spaces––known as community labs or biohackerspaces––for individuals to pursue scientific or biotechnological projects is in part a response to concerns about the legitimacy of DIYbio, since these spaces develop safety guidelines and allow the community (sometimes in collaboration with established authorities such as the FBI) to informally police each other (Landrain et al 2013, 12; Tocchetti and Aguiton 2015). …”