Smallpox Still Haunts Scientists: Results of a Questionnaire‐Based Inquiry on the Views of Health Care and Life Science Experts and Students on Preserving the Remaining Variola Virus Stocks

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared eradication of the dreadful disease “smallpox” in 1980. Though the disease has died down, the causative virus “variola” has not, as it has been well preserved in two high security laboratories—one in USA and another in Russia. The debate on whether the remaining stocks of the smallpox virus should be destroyed or not is ongoing, and the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2011 has decided to postpone the review on this debate to the 67th WHA in 2014. A short questionnaire-based inquiry was organized during a one-day stem cell meeting to explore the views of various health care and life science specialists especially students on this aspect. Among the 200 participants of the meeting, only 66 had answered the questionnaire. 60.6% of participants who responded to the questionnaire were for preserving the virus for future reference, while 36.4% of the participants were for destroying the virus considering the magnitude with which it killed millions. However, 3% of the respondents were not able to decide on any verdict. Therefore, this inquiry expresses the view that “what we cannot create, we do not have the right to destroy.”

De-extinction: a novel and remarkable case of bio-objectification

“…With respect to being potentially useful and risky at the same time, re-created organisms are very similar to many other bio-objects such as, for instance, genetically modified organisms. Another case, that conversely seems to propose more risks rather than benefits, is represented by the Variola virus stocks that are still preserved at two international centers, one in the USA and another in Russia, under the control of the World Health Organization, after the disease “smallpox” was declared eradicated in 1980 ( 33 ).…”

Infections and Public Health

“…Many virologists believe the virus should be kept for research, but from a public health perspective, it would seem most appropriate to destroy the virus stocks to remove any possibility of its accidental release or its use in bioterrorism. 7 The Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health advocates the final destruction of stocks of the virus in order to finally rid the world of the threat of any recurrence of smallpox.…”