A New Moratorium on Research Into Engineered Avian Flu: What It Means for Science
Biosafety Level 4 CDC scientist Scott Smith manipulates a flask of cells used for experiments with live virus. Biosafety Level 4 is the highest security level. James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control and PreventionIs some research so dangerous it shouldn't be done at all? In an unusual move, an international coalition of flu researchers agreed last week to a hiatus on work surrounding a highly contagious, mammal-adapted version of the avian influenza virus. Research on transmissible H5N1 flu will halt, and two manuscripts describing how to modify the virus won't be published, at least not yet. The voluntary pause came a few weeks after an American advisory panel recommended censoring the research in the name of security. So it raises an interesting question - is some research just too dangerous to pursue? Not just for the scientists conducting it, but for the public in a post-9/11 world? Voluntarily pausing science...