[PDF] The World Health Organization (WHO) is justly proud of the global effort that brought about the eradication of smallpox in 1977; but the truth of the matter is that the job was never finished. The United States and Russia still retain smallpox virus (Variola major), an easily transmitted disease and ancient scourge of humanity that is a potent biological warfare agent. Smallpox kills one quarter or more of the people it infects and leaves many who do not die disfigured and blind.
In 1999, the remaining stocks of smallpox virus were slated for imminent destruction. But Russia and the US balked at the World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution calling upon them to destroy the virus. Instead, the US has accelerated smallpox research. Now, it wants to open the Pandora’s Box of genetically-engineered smallpox. A US plan to genetically-engineer the virus could be approved by the WHA in May 2005. The plan also includes the expression of smallpox genes in related poxviruses, and unlimited distribution of segments of smallpox DNA up to a certain size. If implemented, this plan would pose serious biosafety risks and open the road to an artificial reconstruction of the virus for biowarfare purposes.
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