The bird flu has been killing many people around the world.
If you have seen the movie Contagion, it is the perfect movie to watch to see
how easily the bird flu can be transmitted. It is mostly prevalent in Asia.
This article’s concern is about research done on the H5N1 (bird flu) virus and
who to give the research findings to. The World Health Organization is expected
to announce later its view of how to circulate the research safely to
scientists studying the virus in humans. The US security advisor asked the
editor of the scientific journal Science not
to publish parts of the work because of concerns it could help terrorists to
develop a biological weapon. But the editor believes that it is important to
get the research out to scientists and health officials monitoring the virus.
The research found that the H5N1 virus could easily mutate into a form that
could spread rapidly among the human population.
Some scientists think that redacting certain vital information
about the research is an infringement of academic freedom. I think that this is
a huge problem, because scientists need to know as much about this virus as
possible so that they can help prevent an epidemic from happening. On the other
hand, it is hard to let them know because information might be leaked to
terrorists who could develop a virus that can harm the population. This is a
global social problem because people around the world need a vaccine that can
help them combat this virus. In my opinion, I think that organizations around
the world need to come up with a safe idea to transmit information about the research
findings to other scientists. I think that they should be able to do this if
they all come together to work on the problem.
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