After scientists at the University of Alberta put together from scratch a relative of the smallpox virus—horsepox—some experts are concerned that the ability to create such deadly pathogens will wind up in the wrong hands.
Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is concerned not so much about the research itself, which is aimed at fighting disease, but that rogue agents might use the advances in science to create killer diseases to use as biological weapons, he said in a July 7, 2017 STAT article.
“Demonstrating this can be done—and then writing newspaper articles about it and Science magazine articles—will get the attention of people who might want to use it for the wrong reasons and they might have never known about that,” said Lipsitch.
Read the STAT article: Scientists recreate an extinct virus, triggering new warnings about controversial research
Learn more
Dangerous pathogen research should be stopped—for good (Harvard Chan School news)
Q&A: When lab research threatens humanity (Harvard Public Health magazine)