Science magazine is conducting a live chat about research that produced H5N1 influenza strains that are more easily transmissible between ferrets. Among the topics to be addressed will be the benefits and risks of the H5N1 transmissibility studies and whether they should be published in full; and should experiments that could help aspiring bioterrorists be more tightly regulated.
The guests will be epidemiologist and NSABB member Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), and influenza virologist Andrew Pekosz, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins University.
The live chat begins at 3 p.m. EST on Thursday, 12 January. You can join the chat here on virology blog (below) or at the Science website. Questions may be entered in the comment box below before the chat starts.
Michael Osterholm mentions a global discussion, but so far I only see acting by US government and the NSABB, also an US institution.I don’t know of any such institution in Europe (that would have official power), and even there were some, I’m sure they wouldn’t even consider censorship or restriction of access to scientific data. At least not without extensive public protest.