Ban lifted on creation of deadly new pathogens

Picture it: a laboratory somewhere in America.

A white-coated lab worker is finishing up for the day, packing up a specimen of a benign virus strain to ship to a medical university.

Instead, he picks up the wrong sample and sends out a vial of deadly bird flu that can easily pass from person to person. In effect, a lethal strain of influenza — one that could trigger a pandemic that kills millions — will soon be tucked away in a truck cruising down an American highway.

No, this isn’t the plot of the latest sci-fi thriller to hit your local theater. It’s a scenario that could easily play out in real life, thanks to the recent lifting of a federal ban on the man-made creation of deadly viruses.

I’m talking about microbes intentionally genetically modified to be as lethal as possible.

Yes, you read that right.

Not only has producing such biological agents been given the green light after years of being banned, but you’re going to be paying for this research with your tax dollars.

And, if the feds’ track record is any indication, these experiments are an accident waiting to happen.

To err is human
It’s the biggest fear of scientists everywhere — a nasty viral strain that mutates to become easily transmissible between people.

So, here’s a great idea — let’s help things along a bit by creating that very same mutation in a laboratory!

While we were busy celebrating Christmas, the National Institutes of Health lifted a ban on the federal funding of a frightening type of research involving deadly pathogens, such as influenza, SARS, and MERS — even Ebola!

And of course it has a fancy name: “gain-of-function experiments.”

The point is to alter viruses in the lab to “better understand” the risks they pose.

That’s like setting your house on fire to see how quickly you can put it out.

And these kinds of risky experiments aren’t pie-in-the-sky “maybes” either — they’ve been done before.

Back around seven years ago, scientists easily tweaked the H5N1 virus, described as one of the “most dangerous flu viruses ever known,” in a lab to make it even more deadly.

That federally funded research was done on ferrets, considered ideal matches to study human flu viruses in. And all it took was a “handful” of deliberate mutations to make this lethal viral airborne.

If you’re wondering what researchers have to gain by putting humans around the world at risk of the accidental unleashing of a deadly pandemic, you’re not alone.

As Rutgers University molecular biologist and bioweapons expert Richard Ebright says, “I am not persuaded that the work is of greater potential benefit than of potential harm.”

You don’t say!

Plus that, there’s the chance that the instructions on how to cook up a lethal microbe will fall into the wrong hands, and that’s something scientists have been worrying about for quite a while now.

Thank goodness (fingers crossed) that manipulated microbe stayed in the lab with the ferrets and didn’t escape where it could have become contagious to humans. But as an expert in this kind of research commented, numerous accidents have happened already.

In fact, the reason for the ban on such experiments in the first place was the distinct possibility of that happening.

Three years ago — at the CDC, no less — researchers somehow accidently shipped a highly dangerous version of the avian flu out to another facility. Can you imagine what could have happened if that package had landed in the wrong hands?

And then there’s the 2014 “CDC lab incident,” when anthrax spores somehow “escaped.” Or how about the 60-plus deadly virus samples (including Ebola) that went missing from a government lab for over a decade in the 1980s?

We all know that accidents can happen, and certainly to err is human… but should the worst-case scenario take place, there will be no turning back.

This lunacy must be stopped. Experts in this field are calling for a ban on both federal and private funding of such experiments.

The only thing it appears we can do right now is contact our lawmakers and tell them that we don’t want a penny of our tax money spent on trying to pry open Pandora’s box.

“A federal ban on making lethal viruses is lifted” Donald G. McNeil, Jr., December 19, 2017, The New York Times, nytimes.com