Ron Fouchier, who leads one of the controversial H5N1 research projects (far left) with Bruce Alberts, Editor-in-Chief of Science and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the American Society of Microbiologists biodefense meeting held on February 29. FLICKR, MICROBE WORLD
Since the US government asked the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) last week to reconsider revised manuscripts of controversial H5N1 research, which contain “new” and "clarified older data" not evaluated previously by the NSABB, several members of the security board, as well as a senior US congressman, have spoken out about the unfolding events.
Lynn Enquist, molecular biologist at Princeton University and one of the 23 voting members of the NSABB panel told ScienceInsider that the H5N1 experiments carried out independently by research teams at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, clearly fall under the classification of “experiments of concern” delineated by the highly influential 2003 National Academies report on biotechnology and terrorism.
“They not only ...
