ScienceInsider: A Flawed Flu Papers Process?

 

 

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The `must read’ for today comes from the pen of CIDRAP director and NSABB  board member Michael Osterholm in a letter to the Associate Director for Science Policy at the NIH where he critiques the NSABB’s recent reversal of their previously unanimous decision to block the full publication of Ron Fouchier’s controversial H5N1 ferret studies.

Of the eighteen members who voted again on the issue, twelve recommended publication while six did not.  Osterholm voted in the minority.

 

Jon Cohen writing for Science’s ScienceInsider provides the background, in his report:

 

 

A Flawed Flu Papers Process?

by Jon Cohen on 13 April 2012, 4:26 PM

 

Last month, one-third of the members of the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) disagreed with the group's recommendation to publish in full two studies that describe how to make the bird flu virus transmissible in mammals. Now one of the six dissenters, influenza epidemiologist Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, has written a sharp critique of the meeting that led to the decision. In a letter sent yesterday to Amy Patterson, an official at the U.S. National Institutes of Health whose office oversees NSABB, Osterholm charged that the meeting was "designed to produce the outcome that occurred."

(Continue . . .)

 

Osterholm’s 7-page letter is available  HERE - and regardless where you stood on the publication of Fouchier’s research - Osterholm calls into serious question many aspects of the NSABB review process that should be of concern to all of us.

Helen Branswell has even more on all of this in her recently updated Canadian Press story:

 

Updated: April 13, 2012 | 6:39 pm

Flu expert slams bird flu panel process

By Helen Branswell The Canadian Press

 

In a world where we can now create `designer’ organisms in the laboratory, the biosecurity issues facing life sciences research are becoming increasingly complex. While the benefits of this kind of work may prove enormous, the risks are not trivial.

 

Despite reassurances from researchers, mistakes, laboratory accidents, and even intentional misuse of these new technologies are always possible.

 

Against this backdrop, public confidence in science and scientists continues to deteriorate (see Science at the Crossroads). Already there is a good deal of public resistance to the use of GM (Genetically Modified) food crops, and bio-engineered organisms, and the anti-vaccine movement continues to thrive.

 

If this type of research is to have a viable future, then it must first engender the public’s trust.

 

And based on their handling of this controversy over the past few months, the scientific community has got a long way to go.

AAAS Webinar: Science Is Not Enough

 

 

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Yesterday, in Science at the Crossroads, I wrote about the public’s growing mistrust in science and in the scientific community. There are deep divisions over scientific claims of climate change, vaccine safety, the safety of genetically modified crops, and even the theory of evolution.

 

While there are many external reasons for this divide (including tabloid journalism, and the proliferation of pseudo-science on the internet), the way that scientists communicate about science is at least partially to blame.

 

The decision yesterday afternoon by the World Health Organization to hold back on the publication of controversial H5N1 research until they can `increase public awareness and understanding of this research’  would seem a tacit acknowledgment that scientists need to do a better job in communicating with the public.

 

Later today, the AAAS will webcast a plenary lecture on this very subject.

 

Science Is Not Enough: Plenary Panel and Live Webcast

18 February 2012
5:00-6:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time
Vancouver Convention Centre, West Building, Ballroom C

Live-tweet your questions to #AAASmtg

 

Why do so many political leaders and citizens remain unconcerned about climate change, water scarcity, fisheries depletion, and a host of other science-related global challenges?

 

An exceptional plenary panel at the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting will explore how scientists, educators, and students can help influence public perceptions and debate about science-related global challenges.

 

The panel will be moderated by Frank Sesno, an award-winning American journalist, former CNN correspondent, anchor and Washington bureau chief, and director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.

 

AAAS President Nina Fedoroff, a leading geneticist and molecular biologist, will preside. Fedoroff is Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and Willaman Professor of Life Science at Pennsylvania State University. She is also a distinguished visiting professor at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia.

Panelists

James Hansen

Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Adjunct Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University

Olivia Judson

Research Fellow, Imperial College London

Hans Rosling

Professor of International Health, Karolinska Institute; Co-Founder, Gapminder Foundation

 

This should make for an interesting webcast.