White House suspends funding for risky flu studies

U.S. government funding of new research involving flu viruses and other pathogens in which scientists deliberately make them more transmissible or more deadly has been temporarily halted.

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy announced the move Friday to allow for an assessment of the potential risks and benefits of gain-of-function studies, which look at how gene mutations affect virulence and transmissibility.

The advisory body said the halt in funding would affect research and experiments involving flu, SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) viruses.

It is also asking that those conducting this type of work, whether federally funded or not, to "voluntarily pause" their research while risks and benefits are being reassessed.

Studies involving naturally occurring flu, MERS and SARS viruses are unaffected "unless there is a reasonable expectation that these tests would increase transmissibility or pathogenicity," the statement said.

Experts criticized the government last month for failing to weigh in on gain-of-function research when it issued new guidelines on dual-use research of concern — studies in which the results could potentially be misapplied for nefarious activities, such as biowarfare or bioterrorism.

Under the new advice, universities are now in charge of policing such research and any that fail to keep the government informed could lose federal funding.

Gain of function studies have sparked debate before. In 2011, the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity asked two leading journals — Nature and Science — to withhold details on mutated strains of the bird flu virus because of fears the studies could be used by bioterrorists.

Earlier this year, scientists formed the Cambridge Working Group with more than 300 signatories — including three Nobel laureates — to call for a moratorium on the creation of such "potential pandemic pathogens" until a rigorous assessment can be conducted.

In addition to the moratorium, the White House is also calling on National Research Council of the National Academies to convene a scientific symposium focused on the issues associated with gain-of-function research.

Al Jazeera and Reuters