Slashdot Mirror
A Federal Ban On Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted (nytimes.com)
schwit1 shares a report from The New York Times (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source): Federal officials on Tuesday ended a moratorium imposed three years ago on funding research that alters germs to make them more lethal. Such work can now proceed, said Dr. Francis S. Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health, but only if a scientific panel decides that the benefits justify the risks. Some scientists are eager to pursue these studies because they may show, for example, how a bird flu could mutate to more easily infect humans, or could yield clues to making a better vaccine.
Critics say these researchers risk creating a monster germ that could escape the lab and seed a pandemic. Now, a government panel will require that researchers show that their studies in this area are scientifically sound and that they will be done in a high-security lab. The pathogen to be modified must pose a serious health threat, and the work must produce knowledge -- such as a vaccine -- that would benefit humans. Finally, there must be no safer way to do the research. "We see this as a rigorous policy," Dr. Collins said. "We want to be sure we're doing this right." "Now where are those twelve monkeys?" adds schwit1.
Critics say these researchers risk creating a monster germ that could escape the lab and seed a pandemic. Now, a government panel will require that researchers show that their studies in this area are scientifically sound and that they will be done in a high-security lab. The pathogen to be modified must pose a serious health threat, and the work must produce knowledge -- such as a vaccine -- that would benefit humans. Finally, there must be no safer way to do the research. "We see this as a rigorous policy," Dr. Collins said. "We want to be sure we're doing this right." "Now where are those twelve monkeys?" adds schwit1.
Nuclear power is completely safe, or at least so we have been told. Chernobyl could not explode because it was constructed with heavy lids on top of the reactors, which would be strong enough to contain any explosion if any should ever occur. That was the belief and official statement when it was constructed.
Now we are told that scientists could be allowed to generate an incurable virus, which might make the black death look like the common cold. They don't even claim it to be completely safe, only that the risk is expected to be below some threshold, which may or may not be reasonable. If history has told us anything, then that is that the biggest disasters have come from something completely unexpected that nobody predicted or nearly nobody predicted. It's not enough to talk about the odds for something going bad, but we need also ignore the odds and look at what happen if even the unlikely happens. After all the odds for winning the big price in lotto is unreasonably low, yet it happens once in a while anyway.
There were some researchers in The Netherlands who mutated SARS to spread from person to person. After a major backlash and the media calling them bio terrorists, they realized that even if they had pure intensions that they could not safeguard against people with ill intentions, who may copy or steal with harmful intensions.
There's one more condition they need to add to the requirements.
Proof of a permanent INSURANCE POLICY/BOND covering no less than $1 Trillion in potential liabilities -- and no less than any possible damages; promising compensation for ANY worldwide damage or
losses to any person or company caused if during or after their research a virus modified to be more lethal should show up in the world and cause anyone to become ill..