GENEVA — The United States has proposed that the last known stockpiles of the smallpox virus should be retained for at least another five years to allow for more research and to prevent one of the world’s deadliest diseases from being used as a biological weapon.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday that the World Health Organization has been asked to decide whether the stockpiles held in secure U.S. and Russian labs should remain in place for at least another five years.
Sebelius said the U.S. is “committed to the eventual destruction” of the stockpiles but fears that smallpox could still re-emerge and be released unintentionally or deliberately used as a biological weapon. Scientists would need the virus to create a vaccine.
