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By Category: International

An Engineered Doomsday

(New York Times) In the future, it is imperative that any such experiments be rigorously analyzed for potential dangers — preferably through an international review mechanism, but also by governmental funding agencies — before they are undertaken, not after the fact as is happening in this case. The most frightening research was done by scientists Read More »

January 9, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biological Weapons, Biotechnology, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Debate Persists Over Publishing Bird Flu Studies

(NPR) A federal advisory board has urged scientific journals not to publish the research from two labs that have developed an airborne flu virus. Microbiologist Vincent Racaniello discusses why the move sets a bad precedent. Biosecurity expert D.A. Henderson talks about the risks of publishing the research. This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I’m Ira Flatow. Our Read More »

January 9, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Agents & Toxins, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Flu Season

(Foreign Policy) 7, addressing the review summit on biological weapons. Concern reached such heights that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a surprise visit to Geneva on Dec. 7, addressing the review summit on biological weapons. No American official of her stature had attended the bioweapons summits in decades, and Clinton’s presence stunned observers.

January 6, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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A Bird Flu Death in China. What it Means — and Doesn’t Mean

(Time) Science and news cycles sometimes converge in unhandy ways. That was the case on on January 1, when word came out of Shenzen, a Chinese city bordering Hong Kong, that a 39-year-old bus driver, surnamed Chen, had died of the H5N1 (or bird flu) virus. The deeply personal tragedy for Chen and his family Read More »

January 3, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, Biological Weapons, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Flu research and biological warfare A deadly balance

(The Economist) After the anthrax attacks of 2001, America created the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) to advise the health department. Until now the body has exercised a light touch. For example, it did not flinch when, in 2005, researchers at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Maryland reconstructed the Spanish flu Read More »