The scientists who engineered enhanced strains of H5N1 bird flu must be extremely cautious because their work assumes great risks, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a warning issued Friday. According to Reuters, the United Nations health body expressed its “[deep] concern” about the work being undertaken by teams in The Netherlands and the United States at the commission of the U.S. government.
Reuters noted that the deadly virus currently passes directly from infected birds to humans, while human-to-human transmission has not yet been seen. But both teams were able to construct a highly contagious form of bird flu that could reach pandemic levels.
Citing “potential negative consequences” relating to their work, WHO asked the teams to ensure that risks and benefits to public health were properly being weight and that protections were in place to manage the risk of releasing the highly contagious strain into the public.
“While it is clear that conducting research to gain such knowledge must continue, it is also clear that certain research, and especially that which can generate more dangerous forms of the virus…has risks,” WHO said.
The U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity commissioned the teams’ work, hoping to understand how the bird flu could be manipulated, enhanced and used as a biological weapon of terror. It has since asked two leading scientific journals to exercise caution in their publication of the reports, only publishing the outline of the engineered bird flu in order to prevent duplication by terrorist groups.
