4:34pm

Tue December 20, 2011
Humanosphere

Feds fret over publication of virus information, but should they?

Credit Flikr
As grim as it sounds, there are lots of horrifically deadly bugs out there — like Ebola — that never seem to get very far due to poor transmission and that's something to keep in mind in this debate.

The U.S. government is opposing full publication by scientists of methods used to create a mutant form of bird influenza based on the fear it could be used by terrorists to launch a deadly pandemic.

There are a few reasons why, as reasonable as this may sound, many see the government’s position as unworkable and inappropriate.

Read more on Humanosphere.