I suspect it is a paraphrase of the Nature (journal portfolio) "research ethics guidance" published in 2022. That guidance claims an ethical imperative to avoid

I suspect it is a paraphrase of the Nature (journal portfolio) "research ethics guidance" published in 2022. That guidance claims an ethical imperative to avoid "indirect" causation of "harm". Here is a quote from the editorial announcing the update: > Harms can also arise indirectly, as a result of the publication of a research project or a piece of scholarly communication – for instance, stigmatization of a vulnerable human group or potential use of the results of research for unintended purposes (e.g., public policies that undermine human rights or misuse of information to threaten public health). -- Nature Human Behaviour https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01443-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01443-2 Hence, according to the publishers of the Nature journal portfolio, if a finding could be used to support a policy which would cause a negative effect for some "vulnerable human group", or which might cause them to be subject to further stigmatization, then there is a moral imperative to not undertake or to not publish that scientific research. If you are interested in those who have critiqued the editorial and the new guidance, I'd refer you to this post at Heterodox STEM: https://hxstem.substack.com/p/ideological-mandates-in-publishing https://hxstem.substack.com/p/ideological-mandates-in-publis... Alternatively, the editorial staff at Nature offer their endorsement of their own policy here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01607-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01607-0