Recent News

By Category: International

Bird Flu Research Risks

(New York Times) To the Editor: Re “The Latest on the Doomsday Virus” (editorial, April 22): The decision by the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity to reverse its previously unanimous recommendation to restrict publication of H5N1 bird flu experiments is understandable. Reassurance from one scientist involved in the work that the virus wasn’t so  Read More »

Dutch Decision Imminent on Bird Flu Data Release

(Global Security Newswire) The Netherlands on Tuesday indicated it could determine in days whether to grant an export authorization for the publication of scientific research that produced a more transmissible version of the avian influenza virus, Science magazine reported. Bioterrorism concerns prompted the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity last year to call for  Read More »

Live Chat: Too Dangerous to Publish?

(Science Now) Join us each Thursday at 3 p.m. EDT for a live conversation with leading scientists and expert reporters. On Thursday, a U.S. Senate committee will hold a hearing that will explore how the government should regulate dual use research of concern (DURC) that could be used for good and evil. The hearings come  Read More »

Lawmaker Voices Concern Over Bird Flu Review

(Global Security Newswire) A purported effort to prompt a federal biodefense panel to rescind its prior recommendation to withhold data from a pair of avian influenza studies would not aid in resolving potential new controversies involving scientific research with weapons applications, U.S. Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) told the head of the National Institutes of Health  Read More »

Fight Over Dutch H5N1 Paper Enters Endgame

(Science Now) AMSTERDAM — After an international meeting of scientists and security experts on Monday, the Dutch government says it may decide very soon whether virologist Ron Fouchier of Erasmus MC in Rotterdam is eligible for an export license that would allow him to resubmit his controversial H5N1 transmissibility study for publication by Science. Fouchier,  Read More »