There is a new way to make smallpox vaccine that is fast and cheap. But it needs approval from the Food and Drug Administration, and manufacturing capability must be set up. Enough vaccine to protect the entire American population could be stored in a building smaller than a garage, and the vaccine would last for decades before it had to be replaced with fresh stocks. That would pretty much remove smallpox from the arsenal of a terrorist. One other step is needed.
Biological weapons are a disgrace to biology.
The time has come for top biologists to assert their leadership and speak out, to take responsibility on behalf of their profession for the existence of these weapons and the means of protecting the population against them, just as leading physicists did a generation ago when nuclear weapons came along. The Center's publications are intended to invigorate and enrich the debate on foreign policy and defense issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of all members of the Center's Board of Advisors.