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Independent: Outcry over creation of GM smallpox virus

Senior scientific advisers to the World Health Organisation (WHO) have recommended the creation of a genetically modified version of the smallpox virus to counter any threat of a bioterrorist attack.

As if we haven’t got enough stuff that could potentially kill us all. Aren’t global warming, global dimming, George Bush, megatsunamis, supervolcanoes, the decline of male fertility and all enough that we have to create another genie that could slip its bottle? Oh, look:

Four years ago, scientists in Australia genetically modified a mousepox virus and inadvertently created a highly virulent strain that could not be stopped by vaccination.

Shouldn’t we be trying to cure the old diseases before we start creating new ones? It’s not as if medical science hasn’t got some real challenges already. Did some scientists get together and say, “Cancer? AIDS? Bollocks. Let’s create a real show-stopper”?