Scientists pause research with lab-bred bird flu (AP)
January 22, 2012
WASHINGTON – Scientists who created easier-to-spread versions of the deadly bird flu said Friday they’re temporarily halting more research, as international specialists debate what should happen next.
Researchers from leading flu laboratories around the world signed onto the voluntary moratorium, published Friday in the journals Science and Nature.
What the scientists called a “pause” comes amid fierce controversy over how to handle research that’s high-risk but potentially could bring a big payoff. Two labs — at Erasmus University in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin-Madison — created the new viruses while studying how bird flu might mutate to become a bigger threat to people.
The U.S. government funded the work but last month urged the teams not to publicly reveal the exact formula so that would-be bioterrorists couldn’t copy it. Critics also worried a lab accident might allow the strains to escape. The researchers reluctantly agreed not to publish all the details
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