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How far is too far? (Paging Math)

Nov 30, 2011#1

Necronic

This is something that I have alwasy been concerned about, and it is particularly bad because I just watched the BBC series "Survivors". Should we be looking for Captain Tripps? And what do we do when we find him?

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/11/scientists-brace-for-media-storm.html

Personally.....I mean I do think this stuff should be studied, because we need to "know our enemy". But it needs to be managed by the military/CDC, and not by independent academics. Even the limited conversation in this should not be happening in public, let alone potentially releasing a public paper on it.

I am very curious to hear Mathias's views on this.

Edit:

Oh yeah and best quote from Fark about this

M-O-O-N! That spells bad idea!

Nov 30, 2011#2

strawman

For those too lazy to click or think about this stuff:

Some scientists have made a version of H5N1 avian flu which passes among humans more easily. They haven't tested it on humans, of course, but instead on ferrets which apparently very closely mimic human flu response and transmission.

Their results scare the living daylights out of them.

So they're publishing a paper on how they did it and what their results are.

There are some people who say it should never have been studied. Others say the paper shouldn't be released.

The reference to Captain Tripps is from the Stephen King novel "The Stand" about a human manufactured super-flu.

For my part, I'm a capitalist, and I say if the researcher can make money off killing 20% of the world's population, who are we to stand in his way? As long as he forms a corporation and pays off congress, of course.

The way it should be.

Nov 30, 2011#3

Dave

Emrys is gonna be pissed.

Dec 3, 2011#4

Overflight

Maybe it's because I'm an uncultured heathen but my thoughts were less "Captain Tripps" and more "Chimera" from MI:2

Dec 4, 2011#5

SpecialKO

Having no experience at all with biology papers, what does "how he did it" mean? I'm assuming that he doesn't mean a DIY manual for biowar compounds, but I have no clue in truth.

I agree with Necro in as far as the CDC being involved as much as possible due to the public health issue. They might have been already though, and the article just doesn't mention it. I was always under the impression that the acquisition of diseases for research/experimentation was already regulated in the US. Again, could be completely wrong.

Dec 4, 2011#6

Bowielee

Really, because none of this has actually been published in any peer reviewed journals, I'm extremely skeptical of the claims made the article. It smacks of sensationalism and of scientists trying to drum up interest in their projects through controversy.

Dec 5, 2011#7

Mathias

well fuck, I had a nice comment all laid out and I just closed my browser

short answer: I'm not worried, and most virology articles are sensationalist as fuck. Anthrax is still more dangerous in my opinion. When I was in grad school, I made RSV that could have potentially infected chickens across America -turning them cool colors. Making a mutant virus isn't a big secret, or hard. Anthrax is still easier and cheaper to get. I'm interested to read the publication.

At the same time. This subtype is the famous bird flu. It is very contagious and pathogenic among birds, and apparently now among isolated ferrets. We have no idea how it affects humans until they infect humans with it (not gonna happen), or it gets released (also doubt it). What I can tell you is because they have a working animal model and were able to transfer over to ferrets with the same virulence, they potentially can answer A LOT of questions of what makes bird flu so crazy infectious and lethal compared to other subtypes of flu.

Dec 5, 2011#8