Don't spread flu research
Published 9:26 pm, Tuesday, February 5, 2013
• The following is from an editorial in the Chicago Tribune:
Americans are still in the grip of a scary flu season. Who can forget the alarming headlines about the swift spread and virulence of this year's bug?
Now imagine a flu strain exponentially more contagious and more deadly. Fiction? Hardly.
In late 2011, a Dutch scientist announced that he had genetically tweaked one of the world's most deadly bird flu viruses to make it more contagious to humans. In other words, a doomsday virus spread by a sneeze.
An international furor forced scientists conducting the experiments to back off. They declared a voluntary moratorium while government and research officials debated safety rules. Now, a year later, that moratorium is about to be lifted in many labs around the world. The U.S. is expected to release new guidelines for researchers within weeks.
The nagging question, however, remains: is this research safe? Many scientists say it is.
The research can be safely done on the virus, known as H5N1, with strict security. Labs, for instance, need layers of security to make sure mutated viruses don't infect researchers or otherwise escape.
"The problem is once the work is done and the decision made to publish it, anyone in the world can (create a mutated virus)," Osterholm told us. "That is the part that hasn't been addressed. I don't worry about a U.S.-government supported lab that is under tight review and scrutiny. I worry about this work being done in the University of Podunk."
Osterholm also frets about "gene jockeys" in Third World animal vaccine manufacturers and do-it-yourself "garage biologists" who might be tempted to recreate the killer virus just to see if they can.
That should be a flashing red light. Yes, we see how these studies could help scientists devise plans if H5N1 mutates on its own to become widely contagious or be unleashed by terrorists. Science works best when information is unfettered.
But in this case, we're with those urging restraint.