COULD RESEARCHERS ACCIDENTALLY CREATE A VIRUS THAT WIPES OUT ALL HUMANS?

The answer to this has to be yes. It sounds rather like the scenario of a B-grade science fiction movie, but researchers around the world for many years have been creating one deadly virus after another in the laboratory. In January, 2001, Australian researchers experimented with viruses in an attempt to develop a way of controlling mice that plague Australian agriculture. They created a genetically modified (GM) mouse-pox virus. However, this "supervirus" was far more powerful and effective than anyone had predicted. The virus killed off 100% of those mice exposed to it that were not immunized against it. It also killed off half of the mice that had been immunized against it. Mice are genetically rather similar to humans. Isn't that a reassuring thought? The researchers reported their results in The Journal of Virology. In 2000, Japanese researchers, while experimenting with the virus that causes AIDS stumbled onto a way to make HIV grow much faster. Making HIV grow faster is not exactly what we want, but we now know how to do it. They reported their results in AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses.-By Steven Juan.