avian influenza H5N1

Proposed US policy on dual use research of concern

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The US Office of Science and Technology Policy recently released proposed guidelines for maximizing the benefits and minimizing misuse of life sciences research. The measures establish oversight responsibilities for universities and other institutions that receive Federal funding: Specifically, such institutions would be required to review their current life sciences research involving those pathogens or toxins deemed …

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Harvard University: Great virology, bad science writing

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Harvard University is home to some of the world’s finest virologists. But apparently they do not communicate with the writers at Harvard Magazine, where a botched story on the avian H5N1 influenza virus has just been published. The problems begin with the first paragraph: But when Dutch researchers recently created an even more deadly strain …

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The risks and benefits of influenza H5N1 research

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Both Nature and the New York Times have weighed in on the resumption of influenza H5N1 research. In an editorial from 23 January 2013, Nature opines that “Experiments that make deadly pathogens more dangerous demand the utmost scrutiny”: As several critics point out, the assessments of the relative risks and benefits of such research remain …

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Headline writers: Please take a virology course

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Yesterday Denise Grady wrote in the New York Times about the end of the moratorium on influenza H5N1 virus research. The story headline read: Research to resume on modified, deadlier bird flu The Minneapolis Star Tribune reprinted Ms. Grady’s story with the following headline: Studies will resume on deadly modified flu virus Where do these …

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