(first read “Will Bird Flu Research Make it to Public Eyes?”)
Perhaps I am having a hard time understanding why accelerating the evolution of a potential pandemic is a good idea. Here we have a strain of influenza that is incredibly difficult to pass along the human biology and that is incredibly lethal once it is passed along.
Personally, I am a strong supporter of the concepts and principles of evolution. I respect evolution. It is a biological mechanic that ensures the survival and adaption of life as we know it. Why in the world did scientists decide this benefit should be passed on to a deadly strain of influenza? They provided the bird flu the conditions and environment to biologically increase survivability and adapt itself to propagate.
So now we have a catch-22. We don’t know if there was some additional function that needed this to occur to find a cure, and we won’t know without putting the world itself at risk. We have a difficult position here, and chances are this will not be left up to us.
Another thing that troubles me: the government requested the scientists didn’t publish their findings. I don’t blame them. I feel like some kind of sanctioning should be set up to ensure that the information is available to accredited scientist at the very least. At least hold a committee to see what the world at large wishes for this. Instead, they go to two journals to try to have their finding published. The journals refused.
Some may say “that’s censorship, how dare you.” When the atomic bomb was invented, do you think the first thing that should have happened is it gets openly published for everyone to use? It is a scientific discovery, after all. Atomic energy wasn’t meant for a weapon at first. It was something useful: power to run the infrastructure. Can you name a functional use influenza strain? There are two, and “research to cure the flu” is paradoxical. The only other use is death. Any additional use there might be is distant to the immediate threat of death.
This is not and should not be a matter of censorship. This is common sense. The pressure society has formed to “have what everyone else has” is tired and immature. It is a valid argument up to point of the welfare of humanity.