Here are some credible references on smallpox proliferation. I think we need an aggressive program to restock our smallpox vaccines before we have to face an attack, which I hope we never do.:
SMALLPOX: WHO Agrees To Delay Destroying Last Stocks
The New York Times reported that "most officials now acknowledge that there are probably clandestine stocks of smallpox virus throughout the world, and that retaining the virus could speed the development of new drugs to fight a possible outbreak, whether due to terrorism or other factors."
A report issued in March by a US scientific committee was a "turning point" in the debate. That panel "concluded that research on the deadly virus could provide important scientific and medical opportunities." Another influencing factor was the recent public revelations that a Russian defector reported that the former Soviet Union had build biological weapons containing the smallpox virus.
Meanwhile, the head of Russia's State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology said last week that "he was certain that North Korea, among other countries, was secretly keeping smallpox stocks." Lev Sandakhchiev also pointed to a 1998 outbreak of monkey pox in the Congo. The closely related virus infected 300 people, suggesting that "a new form of smallpox might be evolving," Sandakhchiev said.
Should a smallpox outbreak occur, international health officials fear it could reach epidemic proportions in a largely unvaccinated world (Miller/Altman, New York Times.
unfoundation.org
Here is an interview with Dr. Ken Alibek (Kantjan Alibekov), the ex-Soviet head of their bioweapons program, who now resides in the U.S. This interview appeared in the Nonproliferation Review in 1999. Note what he says about the ease of stealing biological agents from the Soviet plants back then, the tens of thousands of scientists working on the program, and the suspicious visits made by some of these individuals to other known to be interested in acquiring bioweapons.
cns.miis.edu |
