Awkward questions

To thwart bioterrorists, Britain’s government has temporarily closed a public
register of labs where hazardous genetically modified organisms are handled.
“It’s purely precautionary, and not because there’s any evidence of a threat,”
says a spokeswoman for the Health and Safety Executive, which holds the
register. But the government decided to act after the HSE received several
queries—mainly from journalists—about the whereabouts of anthrax.
“The hope is that it will be reopened as soon as the current crises have died
away,” she says. The HSE is considering requests for information on a
case-by-case basis.