Should The Smallpox Virus Be Destroyed?

**tinybear** · 19th May 2005, 03:13 AM

I think it's better to be safe than sorry. The smallpox virus is one of the most lethal organisms history has ever known. It's destructive effect is infamous. Why hasn't it been destroyed? What if it mutates into something worse?

Read more: http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/prog...6-smallpox.htm

What do you think, folks?

**Pooeypants** · 19th May 2005, 06:56 AM

It's not that bad, you should Influenza H5N1, roughly 65% fatality rate so far and once it spread human to human...you know fast flu spreads?

**tinybear** · 19th May 2005, 06:58 AM

Yeah, but it's not up to us as far as the flu virus is concerned. We haven't contained it yet. I'm saying, given the fact we've already contained the smallpox virus, why let it survive?

**Pooeypants** · 19th May 2005, 07:07 AM

It has great miltary potential and we may need it in future for scientific purposes (who knows at this stage). In some ways, it is a biological entity, do we have a right to eliminate such an entity and lead to its extinction?

**tinybear** · 19th May 2005, 07:10 AM

Of course we do. We fought it and won. It tried to destroy us and it nearly did. Letting it survive is risky and the risk outweighs any potential it may have , militarily or otherwise.

**Pooeypants** · 19th May 2005, 07:12 AM

Quote by: tinybear

Of course we do. We fought it and won. It tried to destroy us and it nearly did. Letting it survive is risky and the risk outweighs any potential it may have , militarily or otherwise.

That's the same for all pathogens. They're just trying to make a living.

**tinybear** · 19th May 2005, 12:34 PM

But when they make a living, we die.

**Pooeypants** · 19th May 2005, 12:36 PM

Quote by: tinybear

But when they make a living, we die.

Not always. The fatality rate of Smallpox is not that great and if we consider the conditions we're in, especially in the developed nations, it isn't as big a problem as one would assume.

**ericsp23** · 19th May 2005, 12:43 PM

My only concern with destroying the last smallpox virus is that we cannot know for sure that it really is the last virus. We know that the Soviet Union had stockpiles of the virus, and we cannot say for sure that all of it is accounted for. There is a high likelyhood that there is more out there, and it could very well end up in the hands of people who are not afraid to use it as a weapon. With that in mind, I think it is important to keep a small sample of it around so that it can be used to create a vaccine in case there ever is another outbreak.