The NIH’s policy shift will allow researchers to take already dangerous viruses and genetically engineer them so they become more contagious or deadly.
The NIH is ending a three-year pause on funding research into ways to genetically engineer viruses so they become more contagious or deadly.
This sort of work is known as “gain of function” research. It could help us prepare for the possibility that a virus like this might evolve in nature.
But some fear that there are security risks — a potential accidental release would be dangerous, and the research could be used to create biological weapons.
Many experts think the greatest possible threat to humanity is a fast-moving airborne pathogen — a particularly deadly flu virus could kill tens of millions of people in a year.
On Tuesday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it was lifting a moratorium on funding research into creating a deadly virus with those capabilities.
Tech: The US government is lifting a ban on engineering deadly viruses to make them more dangerous
