Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses today, because you've certainly been thought provoking for the committee members, I can tell.
I do want to get you to elaborate a little bit more and also ask if you will be staying afterward, because we're having the officials come forward. As Dr. Singer mentioned, there may be some really good responses to the questions you brought up, and I'm looking forward to that.
But again, I want to look at the level 2 pathogens, how you suggested that perhaps we need to take them out entirely. I do see a little bit of a conflict here.
You were saying, Dr. Singer, that a good microbiologist, even with regular research, may be manipulating a pathogen that might start off as a level 2, but may become a level 3 or level 4, even. The lab that would be working on that may not be prepared to handle that type of scenario, and there are biosecurity issues.
I had a recent conversation with the nuclear people, and they were talking about the heavy water incident. With nuclear waste you can make dirty bombs, which are not as bad as a nuclear bomb, but there are different regulations for that.
Would you be able to comment on the balance part of it? I'll ask each of you to elaborate a little bit more, because this is a challenge we're facing here on committee.
Dr. Singer, could we start with you?