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By Category: Research

Professor defends safety of UW’s bird flu research

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) The professor who oversees biosafety for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s controversial avian influenza research responded Monday to mounting criticism about the necessity and safety of the research, saying “ongoing research with H5N1 remains salient.” The research is “society’s best defense against a pathogen that has shown time and time again that, in Read More »

January 12, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Biosafety, Public Health, and Research
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Federal government approved security at UW bird flu lab

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ) Avian influenza, or bird flu as it is commonly called, could become deadlier than smallpox before that disease was eradicated, critics contend. The New York Times in an editorial Sunday called for the H5N1 influenza virus created in the Netherlands to …

January 11, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biosafety, Public Health, and Research
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Mayor Menino to lead tour of controversial BU biolab in South End

(Boston.com) In August, BU sought a waiver from the state to proceed with research on the less hazardous materials in a biosafety level-2 lab in a section of the facility. The university plans to eventually use about 16 percent of the building as a biosafety …

January 11, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biosafety, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Biosecurity board asked to review bird flu research

(USA TODAY) Federal officials have asked a biosecurity scientist panel to broadly review bird flu transmission research for public health concerns. The review follows the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity’s (NSABB) last month calling for withholding of details of two potentially-dangerous bird flu studies. An expert panel under the National Institutes of Health, the Read More »

January 11, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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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 »