Expert Opinion: Avian Flu Experiments Pose Public Health Risk

Marc Lipsitch questions the ethics of creating new transmissible strains.

Marc Lipsitch

Experiments that make virulent avian flu strains more transmissible among mammals put the public’s health at unnecessary risk, and therefore raise ethical concerns, write Harvard professor of epidemiology Marc Lipsitch and Yale professor Alison Galvani in a policy forum article, “Ethical Alternatives to Experiments with Novel Potential Pandemic Pathogens,” that appeared Tuesday in PLoS Medicine. Lipsitch, director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard School of Public Health, and Galvani, who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling at Yale, call for greater scrutiny of such experiments.

The aim of research that manipulates the transmissibility of avian flu is the improvement of surveillance methods and vaccine design, but Lipsitch and Galvani argue that even when such research is conducted under high levels of biosecurity, the risk of accidental release and global spread, though small, outweighs any potential benefits. They urge the U.S. government and other funders to “consider the risk and whether we could gain the same or greater public health benefits from spending the same money and resources on safer experiments.” Lipsitch raised this issue last year, as described in this magazine, when a year-long global ban on such experimentation was coming to an end.

You might also like

Trump Administration Alleges Harvard Violated Student Civil Rights

In a court filing, the University says government has ignored procedure to “inflict pain.”

John Goldberg named Dean of Harvard Law School

A professor at HLS since 2008, he steps up from the interim role.

Nieman Foundation Names Henry Chu as Interim Curator

Veteran LA Times journalist calls attention to press freedom

Most popular

House Committee Subpoenas Harvard Over Tuition Costs

The University must turn over all requested materials related to tuition and financial aid by mid-July. 

The Professor Who Quantified Democracy

Erica Chenoweth’s data shows how—and when—authoritarians fall.

In Federal Court, Harvard and the Government Have Friends

A look at the amicus curiae briefs in Harvard’s funding case

Explore More From Current Issue

Walter Wick’s I Spy Series

I Spy Creator Walter Wick at the Norman Rockwell Museum 

Your Guide to Summer 2025 Along Boston Harbor

Enjoying the Boston Harbor’s Renaissance This Summer

Harvard’s Comedy and Improv Scene

In comedy groups, students find ways to be absurd, present, and a little less self-conscious.