Did the Alternative Media Force US Govt to Block Deadly Bird Flu Study?
The United States government has effectively blocked the release of two studies that describe how to create a deadly weaponized H5N1 bird flu after directly funding the research. Did pressure from the alternative media force US government officials to block the results that they had originally funded?
It all began when virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands mutated the H5N1 bird flu virus 5 times, making the virus highly contagious between ferrets — the animal model used to study human flu infection.
This is concerning due to the fact that the H5N1 bird flu is not very contagious among humans, which is the reason that there has been no recent bird flu pandemic. If the results were released, however, it would be quite easy for an individual or organization to replicate them and potentially create a pandemic that would kill or endanger millions across the globe.
In fact, since 1997 the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed more than 1 in every 2 people that it infected. It is easy to see that the mortality rate of this virus is quite shocking, and if it were to extend to the global population in the event of a pandemic then there would be catastrophic results.
Government Blocks Own Research After News Hits General Public
Fouchier pushed for this method to be released in major scientific journals, and many scientific organizations and bioterrorism experts debated whether or not the results should be released. Dr. Thomas Inglesby, a bioterrorism expert and director of the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, was one such expert to warn against releasing the volatile results
“It’s just a bad idea for scientists to turn a lethal virus into a lethal and highly contagious virus. And it’s a second bad idea for them to publish how they did it so others can copy it,” says Inglesby.
Unfortunately for Fouchier and the United States government, the alternative media highlighted the lunacy of creating such an extreme bioweapon, backed by professional statements like Inglesby. Naturally, public concern mounted and even the mainstream media began pinpointing the outlandish nature of not only the potential release, but the initial study itself.
On Tuesday, December 21st, federal officials took an unprecedented move and blocked the full results of the study from being published in the journals Science and Nature.
It is important to remember that the U.S. government actually funded this study, paying Fouchier to mutate the virus to become highly contagious and potentially pandemic-breeding. It was only after public outcry that any attempt was made to quickly change positions and exclude the entirety of the research.
Amazingly, some scientists and universities as a whole are still calling for the full release of the research, saying that despite the major threat of bioterrorism, the full research is needed for the development of vaccines and drugs.
The university statement reads:
“While recognizing the potential for misuse of scientific discovery, the research described by UW-Madison researchers is essential for public health, global influenza surveillance activities and the development of vaccines and drugs to counter any potential pandemic.”
