No rush to destroy smallpox stockpiles, US says
Source: Agencies |
May 18, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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THE last known stockpiles of the smallpox virus won't be destroyed anytime soon, the US health secretary said yesterday, in part out of fear that one of the world's deadliest diseases could be used as a bioweapon.
US Health Secretary Kathleen Sibelius told reporters that the stockpiles held in secure US and Russian labs would remain in place for at least another five years when the World Health Organization could review the situation.
Sibelius said the possibility of a future biological threat demands more tests with the virus. She said it had not been verified whether all nations complied with WHO's efforts to transfer all the collections of smallpox virus to the US and Russian labs.
"The world has no immunity to smallpox whatsoever," she said. "It could be released unintentionally or released as a bioweapon." Scientists would need the virus to create a vaccine.
At a news conference at the UN's European headquarters where the World Health Assembly also was debating the matter, Sibelius said the US is "committed to the eventual destruction" of the stockpiles.
A report commissioned by WHO last year said there's no compelling scientific reason to hang onto the viruses and the stockpiles would only help advance drug treatment and satisfy regulatory requirements. But other scientists contend the stockpiles could still provide valuable information in the future.
For centuries smallpox killed about one-third of the people it infected, but it was eradicated from the environment three decades ago.
The last known case was in Britain in 1978. Many countries say the world would be safer if the remaining stockpiles of the virus were now destroyed.
At the meeting this week some of WHO's member countries again pushed to set a date for the virus' destruction. The UN health agency first agreed in 1996 that smallpox should be destroyed - though it lacks the power to enforce the decision.
US Health Secretary Kathleen Sibelius told reporters that the stockpiles held in secure US and Russian labs would remain in place for at least another five years when the World Health Organization could review the situation.
Sibelius said the possibility of a future biological threat demands more tests with the virus. She said it had not been verified whether all nations complied with WHO's efforts to transfer all the collections of smallpox virus to the US and Russian labs.
"The world has no immunity to smallpox whatsoever," she said. "It could be released unintentionally or released as a bioweapon." Scientists would need the virus to create a vaccine.
At a news conference at the UN's European headquarters where the World Health Assembly also was debating the matter, Sibelius said the US is "committed to the eventual destruction" of the stockpiles.
A report commissioned by WHO last year said there's no compelling scientific reason to hang onto the viruses and the stockpiles would only help advance drug treatment and satisfy regulatory requirements. But other scientists contend the stockpiles could still provide valuable information in the future.
For centuries smallpox killed about one-third of the people it infected, but it was eradicated from the environment three decades ago.
The last known case was in Britain in 1978. Many countries say the world would be safer if the remaining stockpiles of the virus were now destroyed.
At the meeting this week some of WHO's member countries again pushed to set a date for the virus' destruction. The UN health agency first agreed in 1996 that smallpox should be destroyed - though it lacks the power to enforce the decision.
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