Killer flu research to be censored

It was probably the most important research on flu in years, but most people won't be allowed to read it all. As New Scientist revealed in September, researchers at the University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, created a mutated H5N1 bird flu that could go pandemic ? and would be lethal to half its victims.

Bioterrorism experts in the US immediately questioned whether the method for making such a plague should be published. Now the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity has recommended that the "general conclusions be published, but that the manuscripts not include the methodological and other details that could enable replication of the experiments by those who would seek to do harm".

"We will respect the advice and try to publish in censored form," says the study's lead author, Ron Fouchier of the University of Rotterdam. "But we still believe the detailed data should be published. We have the moral obligation to share the details with those that need to know." Researchers must investigate the threat posed by H5N1 evolving in the wild, he believes, as that far outweighs the harm that hypothetical bioterrorists might do.

"The great benefit of the work is that it shows how easily H5N1 could mutate to cause a pandemic of terrible severity, and that we really can't afford to scale down our preparedness," says Peter Openshaw, head of the centre for respiratory infection at Imperial College London.

The bioterrorism science advisory board says that the US government is developing a mechanism to give "secure access" to risky information "to those with a legitimate need", and an "oversight policy [for] evaluating research that has the potential to be misused".

Not just US

Fouchier does not see how a mechanism outside the standard scientific channels would be possible, but should one be imposed, "public health experts rather than biosecurity officials should decide who to share the information with", and they should not only be US citizens, he says.

"If work on viruses in the western world comes under government control, we will rapidly fall behind the hundreds of well-equipped labs that are not under those controls," fears Openshaw. He says that the existing rules balancing risks and benefits of research "mostly get it about right".

D. A. Henderson of the University of Pittsburgh, who led the eradication of smallpox, notes that virologists already review and regulate work with smallpox virus. But flu could be a worse threat, and "special measures are warranted".

The Rotterdam research will be published in the journal Science accompanied by explanations about why it was done, and the measures taken to ensure the virus did not escape.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

Have your say

Only subscribers may leave comments on this article. Please log in.

Only personal subscribers may leave comments on this article

Subscribe now to comment.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1b26a79e/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn213110Ekiller0Eflu0Eresearch0Eto0Ebe0Ecensored0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

personhood amendment haynesworth haynesworth ohio issue 2 ohio issue 2 mississippi personhood mississippi personhood