U.N. drops smallpox stocks destruction.(United Nations)(Brief Article)

2002 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Acting on fears of bioterrorism, the World Health Organization has formally reversed a long-standing order for the destruction of all smallpox virus stocks and recommended they be retained for research into new vaccines or treatment.

The World Health Assembly, the U.N. health agency's top decision-making body, decided to back an earlier recommendation by WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland to drop a 2002 deadline for destroying the virus, held at top-security laboratories in the United States and Russia.

In January 2002, the WHO's 32-member executive board approved Brundtland's policy. On May 17, 2002, a World Health Assembly committee representing all member nations also backed the move.

Under the ruling, no new target has been set for destroying the stocks, which are held at two secure laboratories at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and a similar Russian facility in Siberia. The virus stocks will instead be retained for research into new vaccines or treatment for smallpox. The World Health Assembly will receive updates on the research at its annual meetings.

U.S. Assistant Surgeon General Kenneth Bernard told the assembly that smallpox research was necessary because the "events of September 11 have underscored the extent that terrorists are willing to go to."

"In recent years, experts have come to see smallpox as a No. 1 deadly threat," and the danger of deliberate use was "small but growing," he said. "We regard the potential release of smallpox as a critical national security issue, not only for us but for the entire world."