{"id":80666,"date":"2021-11-29T19:42:27","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T19:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/?p=80666"},"modified":"2021-11-29T19:42:27","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T19:42:27","slug":"creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Dangerous Viruses in the Lab Is a Bad Way To Guard Against Future Pandemics"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2011, three top US government scientists penned an opinion piece<\/a> in The Washington Post<\/em> arguing why research modifying highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) was a worthy undertaking. At the time, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was facing blowback over having funded experiments that modified the virus to be transmissible among ferrets. The scientists argued that eliciting potentially dangerous mutations in the virus was necessary to protect humanity, should those mutations evolve naturally.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot predict whether or not something will arise naturally, nor when or where it might appear. Given these uncertainties, important information and insights can come from generating a potentially dangerous virus in the laboratory,\u201d wrote Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Francis Collins, the head of NIH, and Gary Nabel, then a top official at Fauci\u2019s institute.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amid the controversy generated by this influenza research, the US government implemented<\/a> a \u201cpause\u201d on federal funding in 2014<\/a> for selected research reasonably anticipated to increase transmissibility or pathogenicity of influenza, SARS, and MERS viruses. These were experiments that fell within a subset of scientific study called \u201cgain-of-function\u201d research. In 2017, the government lifted the pause and put in place a requirement that the US Department of Health and Human Services conduct a risk-benefit<\/a> assessment on research that could confer these attributes to potential pandemic pathogens.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2011, three top US government scientists penned an opinion piece in The Washington Post<\/em> arguing why research modifying highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) was a worthy undertaking. At the time, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was facing blowback over having funded experiments that modified the virus to be transmissible among ferrets.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1024,1031],"tags":[33,36,7,40],"organicbytes":[],"countries":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCreating Dangerous Viruses in the Lab Is a Bad Way To Guard Against Future Pandemics - Organic Consumers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Creating Dangerous Viruses in the Lab Is a Bad Way To Guard Against Future Pandemics - Organic Consumers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2011, three top US government scientists penned an opinion piece in The Washington Post arguing why research modifying highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) was a worthy undertaking. At the time, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was facing blowback over having funded experiments that modified the virus to be transmissible among ferrets.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Organic Consumers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/organicconsumers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-29T19:42:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/labc.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"OCA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@organicconsumer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@organicconsumer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"OCA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"OCA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#\/schema\/person\/17936886bc35620784b0838870381700\"},\"headline\":\"Creating Dangerous Viruses in the Lab Is a Bad Way To Guard Against Future Pandemics\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-29T19:42:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-29T19:42:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/\"},\"wordCount\":239,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/labc.png\",\"keywords\":[\"COVID-19\",\"COVID-19 Origins\",\"Genetic Engineering\",\"Others on COVID-19\"],\"articleSection\":[\"COVID-19\",\"X News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/\",\"name\":\"Creating Dangerous Viruses in the Lab Is a Bad Way To Guard Against Future Pandemics - Organic Consumers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/labc.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-29T19:42:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-29T19:42:27+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/labc.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/labc.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"A lab.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Creating Dangerous Viruses in the Lab Is a Bad Way To Guard Against Future Pandemics\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/\",\"name\":\"Organic Consumers Association\",\"description\":\"Campaigning for health, justice, regeneration, peace, and democracy.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Organic Consumers Association\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/OCA.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/OCA.png\",\"width\":640,\"height\":290,\"caption\":\"Organic Consumers Association\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/organicconsumers\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/organicconsumer\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/organicconsumers\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@organicconsumer\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#\/schema\/person\/17936886bc35620784b0838870381700\",\"name\":\"OCA\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/csrtech.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/author\/rayj\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Creating Dangerous Viruses in the Lab Is a Bad Way To Guard Against Future Pandemics - Organic Consumers","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Creating Dangerous Viruses in the Lab Is a Bad Way To Guard Against Future Pandemics - Organic Consumers","og_description":"In 2011, three top US government scientists penned an opinion piece in The Washington Post arguing why research modifying highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) was a worthy undertaking. At the time, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was facing blowback over having funded experiments that modified the virus to be transmissible among ferrets.","og_url":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/","og_site_name":"Organic Consumers","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/organicconsumers","article_published_time":"2021-11-29T19:42:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/labc.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"OCA","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@organicconsumer","twitter_site":"@organicconsumer","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"OCA","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/"},"author":{"name":"OCA","@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#\/schema\/person\/17936886bc35620784b0838870381700"},"headline":"Creating Dangerous Viruses in the Lab Is a Bad Way To Guard Against Future Pandemics","datePublished":"2021-11-29T19:42:27+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-29T19:42:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/"},"wordCount":239,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/labc.png","keywords":["COVID-19","COVID-19 Origins","Genetic Engineering","Others on COVID-19"],"articleSection":["COVID-19","X News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/","url":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/","name":"Creating Dangerous Viruses in the Lab Is a Bad Way To Guard Against Future Pandemics - Organic Consumers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/labc.png","datePublished":"2021-11-29T19:42:27+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-29T19:42:27+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/labc.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/labc.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"A lab."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/creating-dangerous-viruses-lab-bad-way-guard-against-future-pandemics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Creating Dangerous Viruses in the Lab Is a Bad Way To Guard Against Future Pandemics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/","name":"Organic Consumers Association","description":"Campaigning for health, justice, regeneration, peace, and democracy.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#organization","name":"Organic Consumers Association","url":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/OCA.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/OCA.png","width":640,"height":290,"caption":"Organic Consumers Association"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/organicconsumers","https:\/\/x.com\/organicconsumer","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/organicconsumers\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@organicconsumer\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/#\/schema\/person\/17936886bc35620784b0838870381700","name":"OCA","sameAs":["https:\/\/csrtech.com"],"url":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/author\/rayj\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80666"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80666"},{"taxonomy":"organicbytes","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/organicbytes?post=80666"},{"taxonomy":"countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries?post=80666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}