Ronald Bailey on Scientific Censorship and Avian Flu
Recently, two research teams announced that they had created strains of the avian flu virus that were transmissible between mammals. In the wild, this virus has killed about 60 percent of the 600 people who caught it. Today, based on fears of bioterrorism, the U.S. National Scientific Advisory Board on Biosecurity recommended that the journals Nature and Science restrict scientific communication of these research results. Reason Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey argues that the best defense against bioterrorism is not secrecy, but more open and transparent science.
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