Going viral

Readers of Britain's biggest newspaper, the Daily Mail, were confronted with a spine-chilling headline. "Boston University CREATES a new COVID strain that has an 80% kill rate." 

The tabloid reported that scientists working in a biolab at a US university had engineered a new variant of the coronavirus which would combine the more deadly earlier strain with the more contagious omicronAn extremely contagious variant of Covid-19 first reported in November 2021. strain. The result? A "supervirus" with a refined ability to spread and kill.

The lab published its results last week, proudly announcing that the engineered virus (called the "omicron S-bearing virus") had succeeded in combining infectiousness with a high mortality rate.¹

This research might sound scary, but it is actually common. Referred to as "gain-of-function" research, it is used to understand how a virus might mutate in the future and to develop treatments.

Researchers have to report their plans in full to relevant authorities, and also have to follow a long list of biosafety rules.

Some say the research is important, and it is scarier to allow fatal pathogens to go unstudied. The world has more than a trillionOne thousand times bigger than a billion. species of microorganisms and we hardly know any of them. 

Scientists working in biolabs are currently researching HantavirusesA group of viruses normally carried by rodents that can cause both mild flu-like symptoms and serious illness. , the Zika virus, the Nipah virus and dengue to prevent these fatal viruses from affecting the global population. If you have not heard of these hazardous illnesses yet, many argue, you might have those scientists to thank.

Others are sceptical. Even with robust health and safety, lab-engineered viruses can spread. In Taiwan last year, a lab assistant working with Covid-infected mice was bitten and caught Covid-19, exposing 110 people outside of the lab.

Nor would it be the first time that a fatal disease has escaped the lab. In the 1960s and 1970s, smallpox was released on three separate occasions in Britain due to lab malpractice. It was linked to at least 80 deaths.²

The question at hand is one of risk versus gain. Is it worth risking human life for the sake of science? SocratesConsidered by some to be the greatest philosopher in history, Socrates is credited with developing the whole notion of critical reason. said that "the unexamined life is not worth living" - that we should seek knowledge above all else. Others worry that the research could lead to our demise.

Yes: Scientists do not undertake experiments like this for fun. These experiments help to prevent the spread of diseases and create treatments and will ultimately save far more lives than they risk. Outbreaks linked to lab malpractice are rare.

No: We are readily giving scientists the tools to create a biological weapon which could wipe out life on earth, without sufficient regulation. If the Boston strain of the coronavirus had escaped the lab, it could have wiped out millions of people.

Or... There needs to be more consistent regulation of these labs in the wake of the pandemic. Labs in Europe and the US are subject to far tighter regulations than those in Asia, for example.