Should Journals Describe How Scientists Made a Killer Flu?
December 21, 2011
December 21, 2011 | This week, the U.S. government did an unprecedented thing by asking two premier journals, Nature and Science, not to publish the details of Dutch experiments on a genetically engineered, highly tranmissible H5N1 virus, for fear that the information could fall into the wrong hands and be used to create a bioweapon. But while it seems likely that the two journals will refrain from publishing the complete ingredient list for the super-H5N1, they will almost certainly release papers on the studies and their conclusions, which could enable a dedicated reader to figure out the recipe for themselves. TIME