Science Board Blocks Publication of Bird Flu Info

The US Government has asked scientific journals to censor bird flu studies for national security reasons, as the data could potentially be used as a weapon.

The U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity has asked the scientific journals Nature and Science to censor data on a laboratory-made version of bird flu that could spread more easily to humans, claiming that it may be used as a potential weapon, writes Reuters.

The government has asked the journals to publish heavily edited versions of the studies, which, in their original form, showed the works of two research groups that created forms of the H5N1 avian flu that could easily jump between ferrets.

Some worry that this research implies that the virus could spread quickly among humans.

“NSABB has never before recommended to restrict communications on research that NSABB has reviewed that has potential dual use implications,” said Dr Amy Patterson, director of the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Biotechnology Activities.

The journals are rejecting this, however – saying restricting access to information that might advance the cause of public health.

“It is essential for public health that the full details of any scientific analysis of flu viruses be available to researchers,” the editor in chief of Nature, Dr Philip Campbell, said in a statement.

“We are discussing with interested parties how, within the scenario recommended by NSABB, appropriate access to the scientific methods and data could be enabled.”

Dr Bruce Alberts, editor in chief of Science points out that academics who study any strand of influenza need to know the details of the research to protect the public. Closing off avenues of study won’t protect the public.

He said Science was evaluating how best to proceed.

“The NSABB has emphasized the need to prevent the details of the research from falling into the wrong hands.

“Our response will be heavily dependent upon the further steps taken by the US government to set forth a written, transparent plan to ensure that any information that is omitted from the publication will be provided to all those responsible scientists who request it, as part of their legitimate efforts to improve public health and safety.”

Other academics have come out to voiced concern over government censorship of science.

“It is a very worrying idea that information from this type of work may be restricted to those that ‘qualify’ in some way to be allowed to share it,” Professor Wendy Barclay, chair of influenza virology at Imperial College London, said.

“Who will qualify? How will this be decided? In the end is the likelihood of misuse outweighed by the danger of beginning a Big Brother society?”

Comments

Joe

December 22, 2011 at 10:41 am

This is hardly censorship of science. The US Government is very clear that public health agencies and other scientists will have access to the unabridged research and considering that what the researchers did was basically bio-weaponise bird flu and planned on publishing step-by-step instructions on how to do it, limiting the public release seems like an imminently reasonable step.

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Kevin

December 22, 2011 at 1:30 pm

Isn’t this just an attempt to close the barn door after the horse has bolted? According to an interview with a scientist on slate today, most scientists in the field won’t need the whole paper in order to replicate the results. Many have suspected that making air-borne bird flu is possible, and hiding or publishing the actual methodology is less important than the confirmation of the fact that it is possible. The U.S. Government should get out of the science business and let scientists do their work.

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Joe

December 22, 2011 at 1:34 pm

Government should get out of the science business? Gee, I sure hope not, seeing as it was the NIH that funded this research in the first place. This whole bruhaha about government censorship is nonsense. No one demanded that the paper be redacted, they just made a request in the interest of national security. They don’t want to take the research and hide in the vault buried deep under Area 51, but make it available to everyone who has legitimate interest in it like governments of other countries and scientists doing related research. They just don’t want an instruction manual for what could be one of the worst bio-weapon threats in recent memory available at your local public library. That hardly sounds unreasonable or Big Brother-y.

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Former Federal Agent

April 16, 2012 at 9:36 pm

Perhaps the Pentagon themselves realized that the Bird Flu Virus can be weaponized and used in either war or covert black ops as victims would not suspect a military attack, only an outbreak of a known epidemic. Not possible you say?

Need I remind you you of the Tuskegee and Mustard Gas experiments done in the past on our own citizens? Having worked in the U.S. government with various security clearances (now retired), I assure you their are no shortage of creative and conscienceless minds at the Pentagon cut from the same cloth as Cheney and Rumsfield who authorized torture and secret prisons in Cuba.

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