Why Store the Smallpox Virus?
Vincent Racaniello, author of the award-winning Virology Blog and a BioCrowd co-founder wrote in a recent post about the upcoming vote on whether or not to destroy the last remaining smallpox virus stockpiles in the world:
"After the eradication of smallpox in 1980, the World Health Organization called for destruction of known remaining stocks of the virus. The United States and Russia, which hold the known stocks of smallpox virus, have not destroyed their stocks. The WHO met in January 2011 to debate the future of smallpox, and a committee will issue a final recommendation sometime this year. For further information on this topic, there is an editorial in Vaccine entitled “Why not destroy remaining smallpox virus stocks“, and a WHO review on smallpox research."
For those of you less science-minded BioJobBlog readers (or those who prefer visual learning) I added a CNN video on the topic.
So what do you think? Should the remaining American and Russian smallpox stockpiles be destroyed or saved? You can weigh in on the topic by visiting Vincent's blog and voting!
Until next time...
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!
Vincent Racaniello, an intrepid virologist and 
