To the Editor:

Terrorists and torturers read the scientific literature in order to learn new ways of inflicting pain and avoiding prosecution. The scientists who created polio virus in their laboratory and published the results (front page, July 12) have played into the hands of state-sponsored perpetrators who have the intention of developing instruments of mass destruction.

The United States and the international community need a system of governance and public debate to monitor, curtail and punish those scientists who engage in this type of reckless behavior.