THE CANBERRA scientist who argued against details of a new strain of potentially apocalyptic bird flu being published has warned of inadequate security at the lab where the virus was developed and says the virus should not have been developed at all.
Professor Ian Ramshaw also says the new airborne H5N1 virus, modified in a way many believe will transmit it more easily between humans, has not been researched in a laboratory with the highest possible security level.
''With research such as this you better be entirely sure the benefits outweigh the risks,'' Professor Ramshaw said.
A decade ago, Professor Ramshaw, now director of Australia's National Centre for Biosecurity, decided to publish details of a deadly mousepox his team had created. It was done after many internal discussions within the research team and the final decision was made so the findings could be debated.
Now two separate groups of researchers, one in the Netherlands and the other in the United States, have each developed similar strains of H5N1 avian flu and have agreed not to publish specific details about them. Coughs and sneezes between laboratory ferrets have reportedly passed on the flu between the animals during research. Professor Ramshaw said the American lab that produced the flu strain, which many believe would kill half the people who contracted it, only had level three biosecurity as opposed to level four. Both level three and level four are highly controlled environments. People defending the research have argued no pathogens have escaped from a level three facility in the United States.
''The question now has to involve what's going to happen with international controls,'' Professor Ramshaw said.
''Until now they [the international community] have essentially ignored the issue.''
The Independent newspaper in Britain in recent days quoted one of the researchers based at the United States laboratory, Yoshihiro Kawaoka, as saying H5N1 viruses have not been passed between humans. The scientist, who criticised US government attempts to suppress information about the research, said some experts argued it was impossible to pass it between humans.
.gif)
