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July 12, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Polio-Causing Virus Created in N.Y. Lab"

Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) (07/12/02) P. A1; Weiss, Rick

Scientists from the State University of New York at Stony Brook have managed to create infectious polioviruses from ordinary, inert, and customized DNA snippets obtained from an Iowa-based company.  Armed with only a written copy of the virus' RNA code, the research team was able to use the DNA and transform it into RNA to evolve the created polio genome into a working copy of the poliovirus's natural RNA core that easily duplicates in test tubes.  The World Health Organization is attempting to eradicate the crippling disease worldwide by 2005, but Eckard Wimmer, the leader of the scientific team, said the experiment was conducted as a show of proof that bioterror agents could be reproduced from scratch.  Critics of the project--which was reported in the online journal Science Express--say the results could inspire terrorists and should have been left unpublished.

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