As previously stated the WHO (2013) called on all countries to destroy their last known stocks of the smallpox virus, or pass them on to an authorised laboratory. This came after an incident in 1978 which caused two infections and one death. Janet Parker died as a result of being exposed to the virus by accident in a laboratory at University of Birmingham Medical School. When discussing the accident C. Flight reports “This accident was a sharp reminder that humans remained vulnerable to the disease, especially as routine vaccination had ended in many countries in the 1970s” (2011). This unfortunate accident is the sole reason many people are demanding a date is set immediately for the destruction of the stocks. It is believed this fatal accident could happen again, and the disease may mutate and spread rapidly. However, this is not the case, and seems a fairly lame excuse. An accident like this is unlikely to happen again, and the unfortunate outcome of a life being taken shows how vulnerable humans are against the virus.
In 1990, the WHO (2013) decided that all stocks of the virus were to be destroyed by December 31st 1993. However, many American scientists strongly disagreed and in protest delayed this decision, hence the on-going debate today. In 1992 Ken Ailbeck, released some shocking news, he told the CIA that during the Cold War the Soviet Union had produced a highly lethal strain of the smallpox virus in liquid form and was planning on using it as a weapon. (C. Flight, 2011). As the immunisation programme stopped in 1972, nobody has been immunised after this point, so a potential deliberate release of a lethal strain of the smallpox virus would be deathly damaging to the world.
Following this, the CIA subsequently obtained circumstantial evidence that undeclared stocks of the virus might exist in several countries of proliferation concern, possibly including but not necessarily limited to Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. (C. Flight, 2011). My question is, why would these countries hold undeclared stocks of the virus unless they felt they were of some advantage to them?
Official stocks of the virus currently held in USA and Russia are indefinitely important for on-going scientific experiments to produce a vaccine against a possible deliberately caused endemic. It is indeed a possibility that there may be stocks held which are not known to the WHO (2013) which are kept with the intention of using them as a bioweapon. If this is the case, a controlled stockpile of the virus which can be used to create an effective vaccine is essential in protecting against the unimaginable.
References
1. Tucker, J. (2012) The smallpox destruction debate: Could a grand bargain settle the issue? Washington:Arms Control Association. [Online]. Available from: http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2009_03/tucker (01/04/13).
2. Flight, C. (2013) Smallpox: Eradicating the scrouge. London: BBC. [Online]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/smallpox_01.shtml (01/04/13).
No comments:
Post a Comment