‘Bird flu, I think, is going to be the cause of a great pandemic—where they are teaching these viruses how to be more infectious for humans,’ Dr. Redfield said.
Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has issued a grim warning about the dangers of gain-of-function research, predicting that scientists tinkering with making the bird flu virus more infectious is what will trigger the next “great pandemic.”
Dr. Redfield, who in the past railed against the use of U.S. tax dollars to fund gain-of-function research at the Chinese virus lab at the heart of the COVID-19 origin controversy, is once again sounding the alarm on the dangers of risky scientific experiments going badly awry.
In a recent interview on NewsNation, Dr. Redfield recalled a recent op-ed he wrote in The Wall Street Journal calling for a moratorium on gain-of-function research, which involves altering the properties of a pathogen, such as its virulence, in order to study its potential impact on human health.
Proponents of such research argue it can help scientists better learn how the virus behaves and spreads, and so come up with counter-measures more effectively. Opponents say the potential benefits are outweighed by the risks such research poses as it makes viruses more lethal.
“I don’t think that research should be done,” Dr. Redfield told NewsNation. “That’s the real threat. That’s the real biosecurity threat, that these university labs are doing these bio-experiments that are intentionally modifying viruses—and I think bird flu I think is going to be the cause of a great pandemic—where they are teaching these viruses how to be more infectious for humans.”
Dr. Redfield’s remarks come amid a multi-state outbreak of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus, commonly known as the bird flu, in dairy cows. The virus has been detected in 42 dairy cattle herds across nine states as of May 13, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Only one case of human infection with the virus has been reported.
By Tom Ozimek
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