Institutional Biosafety Committees (IBCs) are review boards appointed by an institution to evaluate and approve potentially biohazardous lines of research. IBCs were established in 1976 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules (Guidelines). Their function is to provide local institutional oversight and approval of nearly all forms of NIH-sponsored research utilizing recombinant DNA (rDNA) in order to ensure that such research is in compliance with the Guidelines. IBCs were developed in response to fears about the risks posed by genetic engineering and guided by principles considered at the Asilomar Conference on recombinant DNA molecules.

Although IBCs still serve as the cornerstone for oversight of this research, their role has also been expanded to include review and supervision of a variety of experiments involving biological materials and other potentially hazardous agents. The potential threats posed by "dual use research...