Smallpox

Who would want to keep living stocks of variola virus and why? While most countries are in favor of destroying the virus, some, like the U.S., have retracted their positions because of the threat of bio-terrorism. Those who wish to preserve the live variola stocks in laboratories argue they are needed to create vaccines against a possible terrorist attack using the smallpox virus. Others, like WHO and health researcher D. A. Henderson of the Johns Hopkins University, argue that the virus is “such a horrific disease that its source should be obliterated-totally and permanently” (Marshall 718). This analysis will present the arguments of each side of this debate, those who are in favor of stockpiling live variola virus in laboratories and those who favor complete and total dest

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it it and block it, independent of scientific issues. And you cannot develop new antiviral reagents or strategies in the absence of the virus” (Haaf 17). Those who take this side of the argument against wiping out the remaining stocks of variola virus argue that people and agencies like WHO believe that if the remaining stocks are wiped out variola will be gone forever. However, if some countries are able to keep small strains of the microorganism it will not be the end of it. Those who favor keeping the stock of variola now in laboratories also cite evidence that illustrates the outdated condition of our vaccine research on variola, research that would come to an end if the present stocks were wiped out making the United States and other countries even more vulnerable to a bio-terrorist attack without a means of combating it “Vaccine stocks are in a deteriorating state around the world because they haven’t been used for a long time and there’s almost nothing known about antivirals against variola, so the feeling was in order to prepare for the possibility of smallpox emerging, by whatever mechanism, that the ability to do research should not be wiped out” (Murray 22). Still, many others argue that the threat to humanity is s
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Institute Medicines, Soviet Union, Virology Biotechnology, Hopkins University, Handelman A29, President Clinton, AIDS Recently, Mikhail Gorbachev, Health Organization, Disfigurement Death, variola virus, infectious variola, research value, smallpox virus, stocks variola, potential research value, variola stock, total destruction, favor complete, potential research, complete total, stocks variola virus, complete total destruction, favor complete total, remaining infectious variola,
Approximate Word count = 1974
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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