News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The Dutch government has granted virologist Ron Fouchier, PhD, an export license that allows him to submit his much-debated H5N1 transmissibility paper to Science, according to a ScienceInsider report published today.

"Now we can move on," Fouchier told ScienceInsider.

(CIDRAP News) – Spurred by events surrounding two controversial H5N1 transmission studies, a US Senate committee today questioned federal officials whose agencies have a stake in dual-use research of concern (DURC) about the procedures they use to spot possible bioterror threats.

(CIDRAP News) – The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has endorsed the recommendations of its biosecurity advisory committee to publish the full versions of two studies describing lab-modified, mammalian-transmissible H5N1 flu viruses, NIH officials announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – Dutch flu researcher Ron Fouchier, PhD, said he intends to submit a revised manuscript of his controversial mutated-H5N1 study to Science without applying for an export permit, according to a Nature News story today.

(CIDRAP News) – The US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) says in a new report that one of two controversial H5N1 avian flu studies needs some clarifications before publication and that some additional information the board heard from the lead author should not be included in the paper.

(CIDRAP News) – In a leaked letter, a member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) has charged that federal officials planned the board's meeting in late March in a way designed to lead the board to reverse its earlier recommendation against full publication of two studies describing lab-modified H5N1 viruses with increased transmissibility in mammals.

(CIDRAP News) – Dutch export controls remain an obstacle to the publication of a study by Ron Fouchier, PhD, and colleagues on lab-modified, mammalian-transmissible H5N1 viruses, according to a National Public Radio (NPR) report today.

(CIDRAP News) – New details about H5N1 transmission studies emerged today during a Royal Society conference on the topic in London, but with Dutch export restrictions blocking what one research group could share.