Earlier this year, some state lawmakers pushed for new mandates to block Tennesseans from receiving medical treatments that use mRNA technology. These bills did not ultimately advance, but I hope lawmakers in Nashville are wary of raising similar proposals in the future. The mRNA platform is not only one of the best hopes patients with rare diseases and cancer have for future treatments, but also increasingly a national security asset.
The rapid pace of AI development is making it alarmingly easier for terrorists and enemy countries to engineer pathogens far deadlier than natural diseases. Many countries already have active programs developing bioweapons capable of targeting troops or civilians. If adversaries were to deploy such bioweapons, Americans will need every available tool to combat them. Whereas older vaccine technology can be painfully slow to manufacture, mRNA is far more flexible and adaptable to emerging threats. As it stands now, the U.S. is already falling behind in the race to develop new capabilities against biological threats, as about half of mRNA vaccines in development are from China.
Tennessee, as a growing biotech leader, can continue to lead in next-generation medical research, but not if we throw up more red tape that slows it down.
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Nicole Smith lives in Franklin and serves as president and founder of the Dignity Defense Institute.Â
