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].