A closed U.S. Government-requested meeting last month set out to determine the fate of two controversial unpublished papers on the H5N1 avian influenza virus but it was stacked in favor of their full publication, a participant now says.
The meeting agenda and presenters were “designed to produce the outcome that occurred”, according to a letter leaked to Nature by an anonymous source.
It's open science versus bioterrorism concerns.
The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) had suggested that the papers be published in redacted form, stripping away detail that would allow people to recreate the viruses but the World Health Organization favored full publication so the US government asked the NSABB to 'reconsider'.
And so they reconvened, but this time the claim is the meeting was stacked heavily in favor of experts doing such research on flu viruses, who had an interest in the outcome of the decision and it did not give voice to disinterested scientists with relevant expertise. Prior to the meeting, assessments of the NSABB’s proposed redaction deemed it too difficult to facilitate so the NSABB had recommended that only brief announcements of the findings be published, and that only qualified, vetted experts gain access to the full data and methods.
Officials essentially took that option off the table, meaning that NSABB members would have to vote either for full publication or no publication.
Read the strange saga: Bias accusation rattles US biosecurity board by Brendan Maher, Nature
