Could Smallpox Return?! A Controversial Research Shows That It May!
At the beginning of this year two scientists from the Canadian University of Alberta and a co-founder of a pharmaceutical company published an article showing how they created a virus of horsepox. And some experts are afraid that a similar process could be used to synthesize smallpox.
By Photo Credit:Content Providers(s): CDC/ Dr. Fred Murphy; Sylvia Whitfield [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Smallpox is a disease that has killed hundreds of millions of people over the course of human history. It took us until 1980 to get rid of them and for the World Health Organization (WHO) declare them eradicated. But know it may be coming back as some experts say that the article published in PLOS One is essentially a manual on how to create a deadly pathogen. And on top of that, it would cost only one hundred thousand dollars to make it.
For example, a biochemist named Kevin Esvelt from MIT says this is such a danger that we shouldn’t be even talking about it.
Despite entirely predictable advances in DNA assembly, every human with an internet connection can access the genetic blueprints of viruses that might kill millions. These and worse hazards are conveniently summarized by certain Wikipedia articles, which helpfully cite technical literature relevant to misuse.
- Kevin Esvelt
The Canadian scientists responded them him and said that all attempts at preventing technological progress have failed in the past. Instead, they want to focus on regulating the products of such technologies and educate people on how to plan strategies preventing and minimizing the risks.
Sources:
- http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/07/how-canadian-researchers-reconstituted-extinct-poxvirus-100000-using-mail-order-dna
- https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1007286
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