Smallpox Group Discussion notes

Group Discussion Task

We were asked as part of our latest assignment to prepare for a group discussion around the following question:

One of the longest and most contentious international policy debates has swirled around the question of whether to destroy the last known stocks of the smallpox (variola) virus, which are preserved at two World Health organisation (WHO)-authorised repositories in Russian and the United States. Although smallpox was eradicated from nature more than three decades ago, concerns surfaced in the early 1990s that a few countries might have retained undeclared samples of the virus for biological warfare purposes. Because a smallpox outbreak would be a global public health emergency of major proportions, in 1999 the WHO approved a research program at the two authorised repositories to develop improved medical defences against the disease.

 

To help me decide my position and view point on this question, I researched and printed off five articles around the topic. Some of the articles were anti-destruction, and some were pro-destruction. I have reviewed the articles below:

The first article I looked at was provided by our course tutor and is by: Hammond, E. and Ching, L. (2011) Smallpox virus stocks at the 64^th WHA: implementing the conclusions of the major review. Switzerland: Third World Network. This article looks into the reasons why the smallpox virus should be destroyed and explains that the United States (US) and Russia only wish to retain the smallpox virus for political reasons rather than for the welfare of humanity. I found that this article offered opinions close to my own so I used this article to write my assignment, as well as for research into the discussion.

The second article I reviewed was by: McKay, B. (2011) Smallpox-Destruction Deadline Gets Delayed. New York: Dow Jones and Company. This article was anti-destruction and provided information about the decision to retain stocks of the smallpox virus for another three years. This article, however, is written by a journalist and does not strike me as being factual, plus I did not agree with the viewpoint of the article as it is anti-destruction. Overall, I did not believe that this article could be used as a reliable source of information.

Another article I looked at was by: Weinstein, R. (2011) Should Remaining Stocks of Smallpox (Variola) Virus Be Destroyed? Atlanta: Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. This article is again anti-destruction and states that the smallpox virus should be retained to continue research into vaccinations. However, I felt that this article contradicted itself throughout somewhat, and it did not encourage me to change my mind in any way, therefore, I did not use this article in the group discussion to make reference to.

Next I looked at an article by: Stein, R. (2011) should last remaining known smallpox virus die? Washington: The Washington Post. I used this article as a point of reference during the group discussion as it clearly outlines arguments for and against the destruction of the smallpox virus. Also, the article is clearly written and easy to understand and follow, making it simple for me as the reader to pick sections out and explain and elaborate on them.

Finally, the last article I looked at was by: Cheng, M. (2011) Experts debate destroying last smallpox virus. [s.l]: Guardian News and Media Limited. Again, this article gave both arguments for and against the destruction of smallpox virus and was a relatively easy read. I made reference to this article during the group discussion as it also included facts and statements from leading scientists and professionals around this debate, which to me, made the article appear reputable.

Overall, I think the discussion went well, I certainly enjoyed taking part in it and value the experience as I am sure there will be many similar tasks when I get to University. What made the discussion more interesting was that two of us were pro-destruction, and the other two students were anti-destruction, which made for a juicy debate and I felt like we all learned strong points of argument from each other.

 

Bibliography

 

Cheng, M. (2011) Experts debate destroying last smallpox virus. [s.l]: Guardian News and Media Limited. [Online] Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9648509 [Accessed 24 March 2013]

 

Hammond, E. and Ching, L. (2011) smallpox virus stocks at the 64^th WHA: Implementing the conclusions of the major review. Switzerland: Third World Network.

 

McKay, B. (2011) smallpox-destruction deadline gets delayed. New York: Dow Jones and Company. [Online] Available from: http://online.wsj.com/article/sb1000142405270230452804576343072510493118.html [Accessed 21 March 3013].

 

Stein, R. (2011) should last remaining known smallpox virus die? Washington: The Washington Post. [Online] Available from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011 [Accessed 24 March 3013].

 

Weinstein, R. (2011). Should Remaining Stocks of Smallpox (Variola) Be Destroyed? Atlanta: Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. [Online] Available from: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov,eid/article/17/4/10-1865_article.htm [Accessed on 24 March 2013].

 

 

Conclusion on the destruction of smallpox virus

Finally, we were asked to conclude and sum up our findings. Below is my conclusion as to why the remaining smallpox stocks should be destroyed...................

In conclusion, scientists are using scaremongering tactics to convince the WHA that the retention of the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus should remain as they are needed for further research into treatment and vaccinations. This is not the case, as vaccinations and anti-viral drugs have been produced and in the event of a further outbreak can be used across the world. Comparatively, the threat of smallpox being used as a bioweapon by terrorist is also unfounded, as there is no hard evidence to suggest that there are any undisclosed stocks of the virus held in other parts of the world. In the unlikely event that smallpox is used as a bioweapon against us, there has been enough research documented to contain and eradicate smallpox once again should this become a reality. After millions of people across the world lost their lives to smallpox, and the sheer devastation caused by the smallpox endemic, surely, the time is now right to destroy the remaining stocks to potentially put an end to the smallpox virus once and for all.

Bibliography

Hammond, E. and Ching, L. (2011) Smallpox virus stocks at the 64^th WHA: Implementing the conclusions of the major review. Switzerland: Third World Network.

 

Use of smallpox as a bioweapon, unlikely!

For the next part of our assignment, we were asked to further expand on our argument for or against the destruction of smallpox. My findings are as follows.................

Further research on the live smallpox (variola) virus is no longer necessary as vaccinations and anti-viral drugs have already been established. Hammond and Ching (2011) believe that the need to keep the live virus has not existed for years, and further research should not be permitted. What is more, there are no living human beings infected with the smallpox virus to further advance the research into treatment and vaccination of smallpox. Moreover, there is little evidence to suggest that any other country has undisclosed stocks of the smallpox virus to use against us as a bioweapon, and reasons for keeping the stocks ‘’relate to the legacy of the cold war rivalries and undocumented and unproven fears (with no evidence) that secret stocks of smallpox virus are held by; ‘’rogue states’’ or terrorists’’ (Hammond and Ching, 2011, p. 10). Ultimately, there is no hard evidence to suggest that retaining the remaining stocks of smallpox would be beneficial for further research into vaccinations and anti-viral drugs, nor is there any hard evidence to suggest that any other country is holding stocks to use against us as a bioweapon. Overall, the reasons given to keep the last remaining stocks of the virus are weak and unfounded.

 

Hammond, E. and Ching, L. (2011) Smallpox virus stocks at the 64^th WHA: Implementing the conclusions of the major review. Switzerland: Third World Network.

reasons for the destruction of smallpox

I have been asked as part of my assignment to state whether or not i agree with live stocks of the smallpox virus being retianed for research. I do not agree that the virus should be retained, and here is my argument..........

The remaining stocks of the smallpox (variola) virus should be destroyed. Moreover, the reasons for retaining the virus are political, rather than for the welfare of mankind. Hammond and Ching (2011) believe that those that are defending the retention of the smallpox virus are scientists from the US and Russia where the virus is being stored, meaning that the reasons for retaining the remaining stocks are biased as ‘’it is like asking a group of restaurant owners if eating out is a good thing’’ (Hammond and Ching, 2011, p. 2). Scientists have also carried out dangerous tests on monkeys as they were initially ’’ unable to provoke smallpox cases in monkeys with ‘’normal’’ doses of the pathogen, the American researchers finally got the monkeys to manifest the disease by inoculating them with huge doses of the variola’’ (Hammond and Ching, 2011, p. 4). This meant that the monkeys eventually died from smallpox. Such research on animals is highly unethical and unnecessary in this day and age and served no purpose, as the monkeys progressed immediately to advanced stages of smallpox, therefore, making it impossible to carry out tests on the early stages of the smallpox disease. To sum up, animal research is not only unnecessary, but also, does not correspond to human infection. What is more, a wider net should be cast to gain the opinion from other leading scientists in order for them to have their say to enable a fairer, unbiased opinion on whether or not the remaining smallpox stocks should be destroyed or retained for further research; and more importantly, to opine on whether there is a real threat from terrorists following the destruction of the smallpox virus.

 

Hammond, E. and Ching, L. (2011) Smallpox virus stocks at the 64^th WHA: Implementing the conclusions of the major review. Switzerland: Third World Network.

Should remaining stocks of smallpox be destroyed?

We have been given the following question as an assignment to look into and research the debate surrounding the remaining stocks of live smallpox (variola) virus, and whether or not the remaining stocks should be destroyed or retained for further research.

One of the longest and most contentious international policy debates has swirled around the question of whether to destroy the last known stocks of the smallpox (variola) virus, which are preserved at two World Health organisation (WHO)-authorised repositories in Russian and the United States. Although smallpox was eradicated from nature more than three decades ago, concerns surfaced in the early 1990s that a few countries might have retained undeclared samples of the virus for biological warfare purposes. Because a smallpox outbreak would be a global public health emergency of major proportions, in 1999 the WHO approved a research program at the two authorised repositories to develop improved medical defences against the disease.

Since the eradication of smallpox in 1977, there has been great debate between leading scientists as to whether or not the remaining stocks of the live smallpox (variola) virus should be destroyed. The remaining stocks of smallpox virus are being held at two World Health Organization (WHO) repositories in Russia and the United States (US). Some scientists fear that the destruction of the remaining live virus will result in the world being left vulnerable to threats from terrorists who may have unrecorded stocks of the live virus to use a bioweapon against us. Hammond and Ching (2011) believe that since the eradication of smallpox was over three decades ago, there is no real reason to retain stocks of the virus as it is no longer needed for research as vaccinations and anti-viral drugs for the treatment of smallpox have already been established and are plentiful.  In order to present an argument for this, I have researched and studied the article journal; smallpox virus stocks at the 64th WHA: implementing the conclusions of the major review. By Edward Hammond and Lim Li Chung (2011). This assignment will focus on the reasons for the destruction of the remaining stocks and look into whether or not there is a real threat from terrorists, and whether there is any real reason to continue to store and carry out research on the remaining live stocks of smallpox.

 

Hammond, E. and Ching, L. (2011) Smallpox virus at the 64th WHA: Implementing the conclusions of the major review. Switzerland: Third World Network.

 

Smallpox discussion

Prior to the last lesson of term, we were asked to prepare for a discussion around Smallpox. The question we were given to research and consider was:


''should the last known stocks of Smallpox (Variola) virus be destroyed?''

After reading several arguments and debate sourrounding this question, i decided, in my opinion, the Smallpox virus should be destroyed.

For the debate, we were put into groups of four. Myself and another student were of the same opinion to destroy the live virus, while the other two students in the group were for keeping the live virus. The conflict of opinion made for a good argument with strong supporting evidence and research on either side.

The next step is to write an assignment using research given to us in class, and our own research, to support my argument for destroying the last known stocks of the Smallpox (Variola) virus. I will be using this blog to present my findings and to publish research studies around this subject.

Assignment to follow.......................