Lab-made bird flu details to be suppressed

[IgnoredOne]

Details of lab-made bird flu not to be released to public, after asked by federal official; which is eminently understandable.

The fact that the scientists essentially managed to increase the lethality of the virus and found it was easier than they thought is in itself surprising, and more than slightly frightening.

 

[Bread]

U.S. funded bioweapon research, maybe? Then again, not all that unlikely.

 

[IgnoredOne]

U.S. funded bioweapon research, maybe? Then again, not all that unlikely.

Probably more concerned with other countries replicating it; our government honestly has probably more than enough weaponized bioweapons for that purpose of general destruction if we were interested. Smallpox alone is enough. A good MOAB, too, is pretty effective.

If organized, directed research went in that direction, it would most likely be the type to aim at specific genetic marker. I don't really want to elaborate on it, but it would be quite effective and elegant if a virus could be casually communicated but only be activated by a specific marker, say, born by a Bin Laden family member. You should infect members of his staff, and essentially watch the carrier forms run amuck without harming anyone except Bin Laden and his immediate relatives.

We are not quite there yet, but I believe we might be within a decade or two. As elegance goes, that's probably a more beautiful solution than shooting people.