Re:US asks journals not to publish flu virus research to kee...
by simonsarris on Wednesday December 21, 2011 @07:54PM
(#3379833)
I took a class in college on Bioterrorism. (Literally, the class was just named "Bioterrorism")
The U.S. used to be big into researching biological weapons until they found that it was far too easy and cheap to build them compared to other weapons of mass destruction (such as nuclear weapons).
Therefore they nearly stopped all biological weapon research merely because it would be too easy for poorer countries (or terrorists) to make those types of weapons.
That approach was very reasonable: It is in the United State's best interest if the only weapons of mass destruction are very expensive to make. I imagine at least some of the reasoning here is a carryover of this. So I highly doubt when they say:
> For the first time ever, a government advisory board is asking scientific journals not to publish details of certain biomedical experiments, for fear ...
That this is the first time. This is just probably a much more visible (and perhaps more ridiculous than usual) example.
The U.S. used to be big into researching biological weapons until they found that it was far too easy and cheap to build them compared to other weapons of mass destruction (such as nuclear weapons).
Therefore they nearly stopped all biological weapon research merely because it would be too easy for poorer countries (or terrorists) to make those types of weapons.
That approach was very reasonable: It is in the United State's best interest if the only weapons of mass destruction are very expensive to make. I imagine at least some of the reasoning here is a carryover of this. So I highly doubt when they say:
> For the first time ever, a government advisory board is asking scientific journals not to publish details of certain biomedical experiments, for fear ...
That this is the first time. This is just probably a much more visible (and perhaps more ridiculous than usual) example.