[GluteusMax]

But there is little need for antiviral drugs against the 1918 strain if the 1918 strain had not been recreated in the first place "It simply does not make any scientific sense to create a new threat just to develop new countermeasures against it."

No kidding. This is insanity.

[Eala]

The world does not need biodefense programs to create a 'genetically engineered disease gap'."

Ugh. Just flashed back to the 60s...

[xrp]

Boy am I glad they're playing around with this...(/ sarcasm)

[You Gotta Be Kidding Me]

"From an arms control perspective it appears to be particularly sensitive if a military research institution embarks on a project that aims at constructing more dangerous pathogens. "If Jeffery Taubenberger worked in a Chinese, Russian or Iranian laboratory, his work might well be seen as the 'smoking gun' of an offensive biowarfare program," says van Aken."

The problem is:......

Who says that the Chinese, Russians, Iranians, (whowever) are NOT working on this as a weapons program? It may be hypocricy to work on this, but it could be used to create antibiotics to fight it. The truth is: bioweapons are not useful, because they will also kill your side, but we could also be looking at an "Army of the Twelve Monkeys" scenario. A suicidal terrorist would love to get his creepy hands on this stuff.

[Montfort]

Everyone seems to be assuming that no other government could possibly have resurrected the Spanish flu. North Korea and any number of other rogue states could have done this, and they would be less likely to talk about it than the US Army would.

In short, there could be a very good reason for pursuing this line of research.

[jim_trent]

I thought the purpose of a weapon was to kill your enemy, NOT yourself. The way that the flu spreads, this was be just as lethal to us as to the enemy.

[curmudgeonII]

There is/was some thought that much of the virulence of the Spanish flu [which probably originated in Fort Riley, Kansas may have been due to a bacterium which accompanied it [perhaps Haemophilus influenzae].

[xm177e2]

It is important to our national security to have the ability to deal with these diseases, should they be loosed on us. We can't invent a cure/vaccine/etc. without having the disease to study.

[Steely Glint]

This is insane. Shades of Jurassic Park...

[ModelBreaker]

No kidding. This is insanity.

I can't say that I agree. The quoted language--"It simply does not make any scientific sense to create a new threat just to develop new countermeasures against it"--is too cute. It assumes that noone else can accomplish the same thing as the researchers did. But if the researchers can do it, so can NK, China and Iran. Don't you think it would be a good idea to understand the genome of this killer for countermeasures?

[genefromjersey]

What's not said in the article is that the "Sunshine Project" is a leftist group that would prefer to see us vulnerable to whatever bio-nasties our friends in Cuba, China,or the Middle East can come up with.

They were also opposed to the destruction of chemical weapon stocks, and tried to create a panic: apparently preferring to expose those around the arms depots to insanely higher risks; meanwhile, promoting "safety equipment" ( gas masks, sheets of polyvinyl, etc.) at inflated prices, via website links.

They know quite well you have to use live viruses to create vaccines, and they use the presence of these viruses to create panic.

It would not surprise me to learn they ( or some of their more ardent followers ) have been behind some of the "unusual incidents" in some of the biolabs.

[week 71]

m o o n, that spells deadly virus

[Semper Paratus]

Does the Army have any 'Muslim Chaplains' assigned to these labs?

[Lucy Lake]

Ping.

[RightWhale]

This seems like one of those 'not good' ideas.

[Billthedrill]

But there is little need for antiviral drugs against the 1918 strain if the 1918 strain had not been recreated in the first place...

The 1918 virus is already "out of the bottle." It wasn't recreated, it was found in in bodies in permafrost. And there is no reason on earth why it, or something like it, couldn't come back. And if it does, and we haven't done any research on it, what does the Sunshine Project propose to tell the survivors?

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

But there is little need for antiviral drugs against the 1918 strain if the 1918 strain had not been recreated in the first place "It simply does not make any scientific sense to create a new threat just to develop new countermeasures against it."

No kidding. This is insanity.

Fine, but what if the Chinese or worse North Koreans reconstruct the 1918 virus? Plus we also have learned about another weapon, then we can create a vacination against it so only our enemy dies.

[Paleo Conservative]

Ping!

[winker]

This is criminal;and is conceived from a evil and twisted mind. Reviving a defeated foe makes no sense and is dangerous and un called for. BURN-IT and be done with it!

[Nebr FAL owner]

Some NITWIT at the army lab needs to get a friggen clue the object of the exercise is to PREVENT/CURE disease not create new genetically engineered bugs .

[Straight Vermonter]

You really need to rethink this.

No one has any idea why this flu killed so many people. It is just a matter of time until another mutation is just a virulent. Should we wait until that time to begin research into fighting powerful flu strains? That would be suicide for millions of people.