A deadly strain of bird flu with the potential to infect and kill millions of people has been created in a laboratory by European scientists – who now want to publish full details of how they did it.
"The fear is that if you create something this deadly and it goes into a global pandemic, the mortality and cost to the world could be massive," a senior scientific adviser to the US Government told The Independent, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Dutch scientists carried out the controversial research to discover how easy it was to genetically mutate H5N1 into a highly infectious "airborne" strain of human flu. They believe that the knowledge gained will be vital for the development of new vaccines and drugs.
TVNL Comment: Why are any viruses being created? AIDS was most likely made in US bioweapons labs. The deadliest form of anthrax is only made in military labs. Why do these people have the right to create such dangerous material? Risk of accident exists, human or natural like an earthquake; an accident can unleash these dangers to the world. And risk+time=eventuality. If it can happen, it will happen. It is just a matter of time.
