smallpox tampering fucktards

[Jut]

I read an article in the independent today saying that some scientists are lobbying the world health organisation to create a GM enhanced version of the small pox virus in order to speed up creation of an anti-viral treatment incase terrorists used it as a bio weapon.....
sigh...this pisses me off something chronic....
In my opinion one of the greatest acheivements of the 20th century was the erradication of small pox world wide....think about it...every single person in the world vaccined against small pox...now the fuckers want to start playing around with it "incase terrorists obtain some"........thats what pisses me off more than anything....using the threat of terrorism to justify doing something really fucking stupid and dangerous. For the record there are only two places in the world that keep cultures of the virus, one in russian and one in america and it's not like you can buy the stuff over the counter. a terrorist would be able to shit rainbows easier than he could obtain smallpox, hell why bother with smallpox when ebola is easier to obtain and uncurable?
the most stupid thing though is that even though fucking around with the genes of mousepox accidently created a strain that was uncurable and a shed load more dangerous......they still think it's a good idea to to the same with one hell of a fucking nasty virus.
It's ok for all you old timers (pre 1977) you guys are vaccined but not the younger generation:P
some people need slapping.
rant over

[staticxess]

I agree that is amazingly stupid and I think they have ulterior motives for doing that.
The scary thing is that a virus like that can mutate and it would take that much longer to come up with a new innoculation to cure it. After several thousand terrorists die from it of course..... : P

[Drunkpup]

It's not like they are developing this on a busy streetcorner. They use labs with security measures. As for only the U.S. and Russia having samples of smallpox... thats bollocks. The last confirmed case of smallpox was in the UK in 1978. Additionally, if a terrorist group wanted a sample they need only a few thousand to some under-paid Russian scientist.
Intelligence reports suggest that some of the Russian samples have made their way into the hands of terrorists, and this lay behind the US Government's announcement last month that it intended to keep its supplies beyond the June deadline.
I have a hard time believing that France or several former Eastern- bloc- countries do not have samples stashed away somewhere.

As for ebola being used as a bioweapon, it is not efficient because it kills the infected too quick. This would be counter-productive to spread the disease throughout a large population.
The incubation period for Ebola HF ranges from 2 to 21 days. The onset of illness is abrupt and is characterized by fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, sore throat, and weakness, followed by diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. A rash, red eyes, hiccups and internal and external bleeding may be seen in some patients.
This means of course that the disease would have a hard time spreading.

But diseases suck, and they should be outlawed!

[Jut]

the 1978 case was contracted when a laboratory worker was infected by retained virus in the laboratory. before the world was oficially declared pox free (1979) and stocks destroyed.
the last natural case was in 1977, somalia.

It's not as simple as one scientist whos been offered a bit too much cash. the two freezers are never opened and are frequent to regular WHO inspections. if they were opened we would know about it. you're reading to much into bush's terror tactics so he can justify his world rampage.

anyhoo you yanks should be more worried about dengue since so many mozzys are developing resistance to insecticides over there.

[Drunkpup]

Watch how you swing that "you yanks!" I am not the party collective, I was just bringing sanity to your rant. As for terror tactics, they can talk all the gash they want. I am more worried about third-world countries that could aquire or sell bioweapons, not the U.S. testing and such. There are boffins all over the world that could develop any number of problems, not just in the U.S.
Don't get in such a paddy over this.

The fact remains that the greatest achievement of the 20th century is..... internet porn!

[staticxess]

Well I think the fact that this article in the Independent may not even be true as it is hearsay at this point.I still think it's not a great idea, but if they are working on a new antiviral strain for smallpox it could be beneficial in the event some other group had access to it.
Sanity what is that?
I don't feel I'm in a paddy over this as it is rather a medium sized risk in comparison to others.
Perhaps you both are taking our reactions too seriously.
I think the greatest achievement in the 20th century was the AIDS cocktail.
But internet porn is a good alternative to real sex which may spread HIV.

[Jut]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=603456
article in full

[staticxess]

The World health Organisation is involved huh?
Well I guess we'll have to see what happens.
I wouldn't worry too much unless it should fall
into the wrong hands somehow.