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| Smallpox virus stocks to be destroyed in 2014 |
| 2011-05-25 |
| GENEVA -- Health ministers from around the world agreed Tuesday to put off setting a deadline to destroy the last known stockpiles of the smallpox virus for three more years, rejecting a U.S. plan that had called for a five-year delay. After two days of heated debate, the 193-nation World Health Assembly agreed by consensus to a compromise that calls for another review in 2014. The United States had proposed a five-year extension to destroying the U.S. and Russian stockpiles, arguing that more research is needed and the stockpiles could help prevent one of the world's deadliest diseases from being used as a biological weapon. But other ministers at the decision-making assembly of the World Health Organization said they saw little reason to retain the stockpiles, and objected to the delay in destroying them. Dr. Nils Daulaire, head of the U.S. Office of Global Health Affairs and the chief American delegate to the assembly, expressed some disappointment but said the compromise was satisfactory. "Three years is a reasonable time period in terms of the next review," he told reporters. "Obviously during that time period, we expect there will be meaningful progress in the research on anti-virals and vaccines and diagnostics." So smallpox will be officially gone, until it turns up somewhere. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #15 manufacture existing vaccine recipes for the future Easy to say. Not easy to do. 30% mortality is typical among the unvaccinated who get smallpox. How lucky do we feel? |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-05-25 20:43 |
| #14 If smallpox ever gets out into the population then there will be tons of it in every hospital. We are not going to have go dig around in the back closet of the CDC to find a sample. Destroy it now, and manufacture existing vaccine recipes for the future. |
| Posted by: rammer 2011-05-25 20:24 |
| #13 It's the World "Health" Organization practicing eugenics in not so forward way. |
| Posted by: newc 2011-05-25 17:06 |
| #12 When smallpox rears its head and it will the percentage of the population over 50 is going to soar. The boomers were the last generation vaccinated. |
| Posted by: retired LEO 2011-05-25 16:19 |
| #11 How do we know there isn't a race of aliens who wish to conquer Earth---and the only thing stopping them is their vulnerability to smallpox virus? |
| Posted by: gr(o)mgoru 2011-05-25 12:12 |
| #10 This strikes me as analogous to nuclear disarmament. Everyone is required to destroy stockpiles. The US, in good faith, goes first. Meanwhile, Russia delays, fakes it, refuses inspections, continues tinkering with the virulence factors and mining for new strains in SE Asian backwaters. Meanwhile, we'll never have any idea when a batch will get "lost" or sold to the highest bidder. I.e., nothing changes, except now it's much more difficult for the US to defend itself, against either accidental or intentional release. Which is exactly the goal. Sounds like Dr. Daulaire's job is to politely and perpetually tell these international busybodies to piss off. Good. |
| Posted by: RandomJD 2011-05-25 11:30 |
| #9 What exactly is the point of destroying research samples? Strikes one as the same kind of reasoning behind the unilateral disarmament movement of the 80's. The good news, of course, is that samples floating around in secret bioweapons programs will now be more valuable. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2011-05-25 11:30 |
| #8 When (not if) it turns up again, we'll need vaccines. The only way we know vaccines work is to have a small supply of smallpox for testing. Given that we stopped vaccinating long ago, when it turns up again won't we have a naturally produced large supply of small pox for testing? I'm more worried that the Ruskies or others won't destroy theirs and will continue weaponization. Also, presumably we have the DNA/RNA of the virus fully mapped. How difficult would it be to rebuild it? Or how soon would it not not be too difficult to rebuild it? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2011-05-25 10:29 |
| #7 Smallpox will be gone until construction workers accidentally tear up an old cemetery of smallpox victims, or .... I've seen this movie. It doesn't end well. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2011-05-25 09:59 |
| #6 They're finding virus parts in fossil genomes, and viable bacteria in amber-preserved critters, so maybe this isn't such a good idea. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2011-05-25 09:23 |
| #5 Anguper's point is the one I'm worried about. Smallpox lives for a long, long time outside the human body. When (not if) it turns up again, we'll need vaccines. The only way we know vaccines work is to have a small supply of smallpox for testing. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2011-05-25 09:18 |
| #4 Seems like a good idea on the surface, but I'm a little ambivalent. Isn't the virus a living creature, with rights to existence? Is it wise to destroy the knowledge contained within it's DNA sequences? Someday we may wish we knew the biological makeup of this noble and unique lifeform.... |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2011-05-25 03:14 |
| #3 The signs & symptoms of smallpox are severe enough to draw attention to a sufferer. AFAIK no active cases have been seen in the world for decades. AFAIK there are no asymptomatic carriers of smallpox: if you are carrying the virus, you're sick with it. After you recover, you don't carry the virus. Unfortunately smallpox virus is quite durable outside of the human body, and no one really knows how long it can last that way. Hence my reference to digging up smallpox victims of long ago. The 'experts' have not thought this through IMO. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-05-25 01:42 |
| #2 ...or some illegal comes over the border with it. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2011-05-25 01:30 |
| #1 Smallpox will be gone until construction workers accidentally tear up an old cemetery of smallpox victims, or .... |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-05-25 01:27 |