Verdict on Smallpox Cache Near
By BETSY MCKAY
WSJ
Global health officials are expected to decide this week whether to grant a stay of execution to the last known stocks of smallpox, a move the U.S. argues is critical for the development of medicines to counter a potential bioterrorist attack.
The decision, to be made at an annual meeting of the World Health Organization opening Monday in Geneva, will conclude a debate launched in January over the fate of the remaining stocks of one of the most lethal viruses in human history.
Smallpox was eradicated more than 30 years ago, but samples of the virus have been kept at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and a Russian government laboratory near Novosibirsk.
A WHO panel recommended destruction of the remaining virus in the early 1990s. But that act has been put off multiple times, as concerns rose about the need for countermeasures against a potential intentional or accidental release from unsanctioned stocks.
(More here.)
WSJ
Global health officials are expected to decide this week whether to grant a stay of execution to the last known stocks of smallpox, a move the U.S. argues is critical for the development of medicines to counter a potential bioterrorist attack.
The decision, to be made at an annual meeting of the World Health Organization opening Monday in Geneva, will conclude a debate launched in January over the fate of the remaining stocks of one of the most lethal viruses in human history.
Smallpox was eradicated more than 30 years ago, but samples of the virus have been kept at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and a Russian government laboratory near Novosibirsk.
A WHO panel recommended destruction of the remaining virus in the early 1990s. But that act has been put off multiple times, as concerns rose about the need for countermeasures against a potential intentional or accidental release from unsanctioned stocks.
(More here.)
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