CIDRAP >> Experts continue to clash over NSABB recommendation

"As more details emerged today on an advisory group's recommendation for scientific journals to withhold key details of H5N1 transmission studies, another round of discussion on both sides of the controversy played out today on the pages of a major microbiology journal. Three viewpoints on the topic appeared in mBio, the online open access journal of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). Two supported the recommendation to withhold details about the study methodology and mutations due to bioterror concerns, which have been raised by the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB), a panel of independent experts that advises the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on dual-use research issues. The third commentary argued for releasing the full details of the studies...."