The principal research centers supporting the eradication program were in Moscow and in Atlanta. While this collaboration was proceeding, the Cold War also nourished a high degree of mutual suspicion between the U.S. and the then-USSR about the possible abuse of such research for potential application in biological weaponry. While there are many technical reasons for giving smallpox very low priority as a weapon threat, there was great pressure to conclude an agreement to destroy all research stocks of the smallpox (variola) virus, as part of confidence-building between the superpowers.
Meanwhile, the world has experienced enormous changes. Russia is no longer a military threat, and it is clear that its civilian research establishment shares the same medical and scientific values as the rest of the world's scientific community. Any lingering questions about secret military work would not be resolved by the proposed destruction of research stocks in civilian hands. We ...
