Biosafety levels are inverted: BSL-4 killed ~12,000, pandemic agents killed 80M+
anshulkundaje · x · 2026-11-01
A shared biosafety thread argues we should spend 99% of our worry on the next natural pandemic and only 1% on an AI-engineered one. It cites data showing biosafety tiers are inverted versus reality: non-smallpox BSL-4 agents account for 12,000 total deaths, while the actual pandemic agents — none of them BSL-4 — have caused 80+ million deaths. The author calls for fixing the classification system.
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