In late 2017, the U.S. government lifted a three-year moratorium on funding risky research to genetically alter deadly viruses in ways that could make them even more lethal. Scientists including Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, worry that this work could create an accidental pandemic.
Given the risks, the public must be kept informed of these experiments, Lipsitch wrote in an opinion piece published February 27, 2019 in the Washington Post, co-authored by Tom Inglesby of the Center for Health Security. However, they wrote, research has moved ahead quietly, with the government confirming funding for two research groups experimenting with the bird flu virus only after it was uncovered by a reporter.
“Ultimately, public awareness is not enough,” the authors wrote. “We need public discussion and debate about the risks and benefits of these kinds of experiments. And because viruses do not respect borders, the conversation must move beyond the national level, to coordinate the regulation of dangerous science internationally.”
Read the Washington Post op-ed: The U.S. is funding dangerous experiments it doesn’t want you to know about
Learn more
Ban on deadly pathogen research lifts, but controversy remains (Harvard Chan School news)
Bird flu experiments pose risk of accidental release (Harvard Chan School release)