Scientists Weaponize Deadly Bird Flu, Consider Releasing Results Necessary to Create Bioweapon

It sounds like something out of a bizarre science fiction comic book, but scientists have weaponized the H5N1 bird flu virus, and are actually considering releasing the research. If the findings are released, scientists are warning that the virus could mutate to mimic past pandemic flu outbreaks such as the Spanish flu of 1918-1919 which killed 50 million people.

Virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands is responsible for weaponizing the virus and presenting the findings at a flu conference held in Malta.

Fouchier seeks to publish his work in the journals Science and Nature, though United States government officials from the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity have asked the journals to exclude the specific details of the study that could lead to the replication of the experiments.

So far the editor of Science has agreed to withhold some data under the circumstance that the government sets up a medium to provide the withheld data to scientists around the world who ‘need’ it.

Fouchier has recently come under attack by an organization known as the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, a committee of independent experts on biological research.

The experiments, which involved mutating the virus a total of 5 times, made the strain highly contagious between ferrets — the very animal model used to study human flu infection.

Bioterrorism Fears Arise as Scientists Push to Release Weaponized Bird Flu Research

Of course many scientists are now warning that if such research was made public it could result in the construction of deadly bioweapons.

Dr. Thomas Inglesby, a bioterrorism expert and director of the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, notes that it is simply a bad idea for scientists to militarize bird flu, let alone publish the 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.

Revealing the entirety of the study would allow for individuals to reproduce the results of the study – he heavy weaponization of the H5N1 bird flu virus. Rare in humans, the 5 mutations performed by Fouchier may allow for the deadly virus to transfer freely from human to human similar to the seasonal flu.

What is quite different than the seasonal flu, however, is the fact that since 1997 the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed more than 1 in every 2 people that it infected. This is an extremely fatal virus that if weaponized and released on the public could create a major pandemic taking millions of lives.

So far no scientific journal has published the findings, and Inglesby hopes that none of them will. 

Ron Fouchier mutating the virus to become highly contagious is shocking enough, but the fact that some scientists are now pushing for the release of the research is beyond outlandish. It seems apparent that these scientists have zero regard for public health.

Making the virus highly contagious could result in widespread infection. The H5N1 virus has been infecting birds and other animals in recent years, though it has also infected around 500 people.

The reason that it has not become an epidemic is due to the fact that affected humans are usually not very contagious. Therefore, altering the virus to become highly contagious is quite possibly the deadliest tweak which could be done.

Sparking Bioterrorist Pandemic Attacks, Disregarding Public Health

Why are some scientists and organizations pushing for this mutated bird flu strain blueprint to be released to the public?

Amazingly, the very individual who released the bioweapon would not even be able to fully control the outcome. Paul Keim, chair of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, explained how volatile of a weapon the mutated bird flu could become:

“This is such a dangerous biological weapon, it would not be controllable. Whoever used it would doubtlessly decimate their own people as well,” Keim said.

If the entirety of the study data is released, it is simply a waiting game to see if a bioweapon is developed as a result. The most concerning part of the potential release is the fact that the individuals pushing for complete data dumping will have indirectly facilitated a large-scale pandemic that could threaten the lives of millions worldwide.

Also, groups dedicated to large-scale destruction and chaos would be able to go incognito with their release of the heavily mutated and weaponized virus, as the results are available to the public. Is this the Stuxnet of biological warfare?