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How A Tilt Toward Safety Stopped A Scientist's Virus Research
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/11/07/361219361/how-a-tilt-toward-safety-stopped-a-scientists-virus-research
Well this issue is big here in the Synthetic Bio community.
Well this issue is big here in the Synthetic Bio community.
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Well, to be honest I'm not sure if that will do anything. According to wikipedia Chinese scientists have done the same thing for H5N1 with guinea pigs.
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I think its more to do with the Public paranoia on what the public thinks of people who are engaged in any branch of Biology. Public would want new laws to ensure the next outbreak is not caused by biologists. The Problem I see is that there is a gap between how the public understands Cell Research vs. Cell Researchers in the middle of gathering evidence in the experiment.
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I love how they decided to err on the side of ignorance. A while back there was a guy studying ebola and he announced that he could cause the virus to change in three moves. Everyone freaked out at the thought of a scientist making ebola even more deadly. Like he was doing it for lulz. People decided that the risks of that info falling in to the hands of terrorists was too great to continue projects like that. I think that kind of thinking is crazy. I think we should stress test all pathogens and maximize them for destruction (in a controlled environment) do we can create counter measures in advance. Also because it is science, and needs to be explored. As mentioned, the gap between public understanding and researchers understanding is pretty big. Unfortunately democracy sides with the masses, which is never the best solution.
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