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Should the US and Russia destroy their smallpox stocks?

zidanguszidangus Veteran
edited May 2011 in Buddhism Today
What do you think ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13360794

Comments

  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    I just watched a report on this. Interesting topic. I can see both sides of the argument.

    My question is -- and it was not answered in the report I saw -- if it is being saved for medical research purposes, what is it we haven't "mapped out" that we would need the actual samples for.

    Of course, if we are keeping for a deterrent, well that's a different mindset.
  • zidanguszidangus Veteran
    edited May 2011
    One reason to keep it is cited as in case smallpox returns, possibly as a biological weapon. This is what the US and Russia are saying anyway.
  • mithrilmithril Veteran
    I think as long as anyone wants to study it, it should be kept. Or just wants to keep it for whatever reasons, as long as they don't do any harm i don't care what they do to it.

    I think there are more pressing questions that the world needs to face today like those of malaria, TB, stroke/heart attacks, HIV/AIDS, cancers, Alzheimer's etc. Those are the ones that hurt/kill people today, and often get way less attention than they deserve.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    Is there a smallpox vaccine?
  • zidanguszidangus Veteran
    edited May 2011
    Yes there is, apparently it can help against HIV.

    "Both the smallpox vaccine and HIV exploit a receptor called CCR5, which is expressed on the surface of white blood cells. Researchers theorize that one factor in the sudden spread of HIV in the early 1980s was the result of eradication of smallpox in the late 1970s, and the subsequent and abrupt decline in smallpox vaccinations worldwide."

    interesting
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox_vaccine
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