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Should the last smallpox viruses be destroyed?

Should the last smallpox viruses be destroyed?

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Kandahar

Kandahar

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The World Health Organization is meeting this week to decide whether or not the last existing smallpox samples - held by a lab in Atlanta and a lab in Novosibirsk - should be destroyed. They're expected to render a decision sometime in the very near future.

The US and Russian governments are bristling at the idea, claiming that it's necessary to keep the disease around in order to deal with a potential outbreak; the smallpox genome HAS been sequenced, which means that it's theoretically possible for it to come back in a couple decades when genetic engineering has improved, even if the samples are destroyed.

Most other nations think that the risks of keeping the virus outweigh the benefits. As long as the virus is kept around, there is an increased chance that it could be reintroduced into the public, accidentally or intentionally.

What do you think? Should the last remaining smallpox viruses be destroyed?
 
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Kandahar said:
The World Health Organization is meeting this week to decide whether or not the last existing smallpox samples - held by a lab in Atlanta and a lab in Novosibirsk - should be destroyed. They're expected to render a decision sometime in the very near future.

The US and Russian governments are bristling at the idea, claiming that it's necessary to keep the disease around in order to deal with a potential outbreak; the smallpox genome HAS been sequenced, which means that it's theoretically possible for it to come back in a couple decades when genetic engineering has improved, even if the samples are destroyed.

Most other nations think that the risks of keeping the virus outweigh the benefits. As long as the virus is kept around, there is an increased chance that it could be reintroduced into the public, accidentally or intentionally.

What do you think? Should the last remaining smallpox viruses be destroyed?
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I say keep it.
 
Does anyone really think the US and Russia are going to dispose of valuable weaponry just because the rest of the world tells them to?
 
I was going to say keep it and keep it under high security levels, then I remembered our high security levels for weapons grade Anthrax.
 
Viktyr Korimir said:
Does anyone really think the US and Russia are going to dispose of valuable weaponry just because the rest of the world tells them to?
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Destroying the surviving samples won't stop it from being used as a weapon, they have the genome, they can re-create it at any time, and possibly change it to render the current immunisation useless. Keeping the samples around poses a hazard with no reward.

And it only has a low potential as a weapon anyway, the mortality rate is as low as 20% (or up to 60%), any number of other viruses would work better.
 
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Don't underestimate the psychological value of biological weaponry.
 
Viktyr Korimir said:
Don't underestimate the psychological value of biological weaponry.
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But the samples don't need to be kept for it to be used as a weapon, it can be created in a lab at any given time, with modifications to make its impact worse.
 
This is true. I'm not opposed to destroying the samples. I just don't think either government is going to comply.
 
I say destroy the samples. As long as they have the genome they can recreate it. So why waste money and the risk storing it?
 
Viktyr Korimir said:
Does anyone really think the US and Russia are going to dispose of valuable weaponry just because the rest of the world tells them to?
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It's my understanding that the CDC and its Russian equivalent both have an agreement with the World Health Organization, under which the government facilities are responsible for providing security but the WHO "owns" the viruses and is authorized to make the call regarding what will happen to them. But I'm not sure.
 
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Yes, they should be destroyed. I can think of no good reason to keep them.

Viruses mutate extremely rapidly, so even if it did return somehow, there is no guarantee that the samples kept in those labs would be helpful in fighting the outbreak. It would be more useful to use more recent samples from victims.
Since the genome is sequenced, it's possible to recreate it if necessary.

The risk of it getting out is simply too high. And besides, there are probably better candidates for biological weapons out there anyway.
 
If it is something that can be reproduced... what would be the purpose or the need for keeping it???? Is there one?
 
I don't trust the WHO, they aren't scientific and serve only political interests. Whatever they decide just do the opposite :mrgreen:
 
BamaBrat said:
If it is something that can be reproduced... what would be the purpose or the need for keeping it???? Is there one?
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Variola, commonly known as Smallpox, is an incredibly old, and lethal virus that has haunted mankind for centuries, one of the scariest things about it is, while it isn't quite as lethal as, say, Ebola, it's much more contagious. Also, unlike many viruses, smallpox only infects humans. Due to the combined efforts of the WHO, the United States, and Russia, this virus no longer exists in nature. The last recorded case was sometime in the late 70's. In most cases, I advocate for the preservation of the natural world, however, I think it would be a perfectly excellent idea to wipe this thing off the face of the earth.
 
digsbe said:
I don't trust the WHO, they aren't scientific and serve only political interests. Whatever they decide just do the opposite :mrgreen:
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Huh? Who's political interests do you think they serve? The WHO is widely regarded as one of the most effective international institutions in existence. I've never even heard allegations that they put politics ahead of science; do you have an example?

Certainly they're a lot less political than the custodians of the smallpox virus: the US and Russian governments...
 
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Kandahar said:
Huh? What makes you say that? I've never even heard allegations that they put politics ahead of science; do you have an example?
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It's not peer reviewed, and many times when scientists want to see their data and methods for findings they will not report it.
 
Kandahar said:
The World Health Organization is meeting this week to decide whether or not the last existing smallpox samples - held by a lab in Atlanta and a lab in Novosibirsk - should be destroyed. They're expected to render a decision sometime in the very near future.

The US and Russian governments are bristling at the idea, claiming that it's necessary to keep the disease around in order to deal with a potential outbreak; the smallpox genome HAS been sequenced, which means that it's theoretically possible for it to come back in a couple decades when genetic engineering has improved, even if the samples are destroyed.

Most other nations think that the risks of keeping the virus outweigh the benefits. As long as the virus is kept around, there is an increased chance that it could be reintroduced into the public, accidentally or intentionally.

What do you think? Should the last remaining smallpox viruses be destroyed?
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The Soviet Union, under Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikey Gorbachev, manufactured some twenty-five tons of weaponized smallpox.

Clearly the Russians are unreliable custodians of the trust.

The Americans have been responsible custodians.

The real question is that given the lax nature of the former USSR's security measures is how much variola has been taken or sold illicitly?
 
digsbe said:
It's not peer reviewed, and many times when scientists want to see their data and methods for findings they will not report it.
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Why would scientists want access to data and findings which are not peer reviewed? Your claim appears to be internally contradictory. Do you have examples? How does your understanding of their role compare to their stated aims?

"WHO fulfils its objectives through its core functions:

providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed;
shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge;
setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation;
articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;
providing technical support, catalysing change, and building sustainable institutional capacity; and
monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.
These core functions are set out in the 11th General Programme of Work, which provides the framework for organization-wide programme of work, budget, resources and results. Entitled "Engaging for health", it covers the 10-year period from 2006 to 2015. "
 
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Kandahar said:
The World Health Organization is meeting this week to decide whether or not the last existing smallpox samples - held by a lab in Atlanta and a lab in Novosibirsk - should be destroyed. They're expected to render a decision sometime in the very near future.

The US and Russian governments are bristling at the idea, claiming that it's necessary to keep the disease around in order to deal with a potential outbreak; the smallpox genome HAS been sequenced, which means that it's theoretically possible for it to come back in a couple decades when genetic engineering has improved, even if the samples are destroyed.

Most other nations think that the risks of keeping the virus outweigh the benefits. As long as the virus is kept around, there is an increased chance that it could be reintroduced into the public, accidentally or intentionally.

What do you think? Should the last remaining smallpox viruses be destroyed?
Click to expand...

Render a decision? Who the hell do they think they are?
 
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