Journalism and the fentanyl dilemma

Journalists and scientists share a perennial problem—the unanticipated consequences of putting their work out into the world. This week’s issue features an article about how chemical artificial intelligence can design large-scale syntheses of the deadly drug fentanyl. Bartosz Grzybowski, who designed the chemical AI, argues that government agencies could use this technology to catch makers of illicit fentanyl, but he acknowledges that clandestine chemists could also use it to get around government restrictions. Grzybowski’s dual-use research —that is, research that can have beneficial as well as detrimental consequences—on chemical AI brought to mind two examples of journalists that grappled with similar issues. One is a recent article from Reuters , in which reporters showed that all they needed was a web browser and $3,600 to acquire the chemicals and equipment for making $3 million worth of fentanyl. The other example appeared in C&EN nearly 40 years ago. Reporter Rudy Baum