Science & Technology

New bird flu strains created in lab

By T.K. Randall
May 7, 2013 ·  60 comments

Image Credit: stockxpert Researchers at China's National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory have combined avian and human forms of the flu virus to create a host of new and potentially deadly strains. The rationale behind the work is that the new strains will help them develop treatments and to better understand how the virus is passed between humans and animals. The potential for disaster however has sparked outrage among the international science community.

"They claim they are doing this to help develop vaccines and such like. In fact the real reason is that they are driven by blind ambition with no common sense whatsoever," said zoologist Lord Robert May. "The record of containment in labs like this is not reassuring. They are taking it upon themselves to create human-to-human transmission of very dangerous viruses. It's appallingly irresponsible."[!gad]Researchers at China's National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory have combined avian and human forms of the flu virus to create a host of new and potentially deadly strains. The rationale behind the work is that the new strains will help them develop treatments and to better understand how the virus is passed between humans and animals. The potential for disaster however has sparked outrage among the international science community.

"They claim they are doing this to help develop vaccines and such like. In fact the real reason is that they are driven by blind ambition with no common sense whatsoever," said zoologist Lord Robert May. "The record of containment in labs like this is not reassuring. They are taking it upon themselves to create human-to-human transmission of very dangerous viruses. It's appallingly irresponsible."

Source: New York Daily News | Comments (60)

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