BIOTERRORISM

U.S. Asks Journals to Censor Flu Study

Fear that terrorists will be able to replicate findings.

This is a new twist on the peer review process. The U.S. government has asked the journals Science and Nature not to publish crucial details of biomedical experiments that created an extremely transmissible form of bird flu. The National Science Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity does not want terrorists to get hold of “experimental details and mutation data that would enable the replication of the experiment.” Essentially, the papers show the way the virus can evolve into a form which is easily spread through coughing and sneezing. Coincidentally, Hong Kong has begun slaughtering thousands of birds after a chicken tested positive for the H5N1 virus.