As a scientist who has worked for more than 40 years to find cures for infectious disease, I find the idea that terrorists would use biological agents as a weapon to be anathema. It violates the fundamental values of the life sciences that I and my colleagues hold dear: that science is a vital tool for improving life and the health of our planet and enhancing our understanding of the natural world. My own work has focused on cholera, a disease responsible for the death of thousands of people around the world every year. During the past 40 years, research carried out through international collaboration of scientists.
