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The fact that a biological research laboratory was probably the source of the foot and mouth outbreak is, paradoxically, both hugely reassuring and at first sight very worrying.Reassuring because if the multinational firm Merial Animal Health Labs was responsible for the outbreak, then scientists will know exactly which strain of the virus is responsible and will have a vaccine readily available - indeed, the cause of the outbreak would have been the very foot and mouth vaccines that the scientists are producing in huge quantities.What's more, it will be known exactly where the outbreak began, and when.Thanks to the prompt action by Surrey organic beef farmer Roger Pride (who should receive a medal for his vigilance), the source of the outbreak has been pinpointed immediately, reducing massively the chance of a nationwide epidemic.We might yet avoid a repeat of the terrible scenes of six years ago.But the news is also worrying because it highlights the fact that huge quantities of viruses and bacteria are held in laboratories all over Britain which we have been led to believe are safe. They include germs which have the potential to cause economic devastation and much worse.According to Professor John Oxford, one of Britain's leading virus experts, outbreaks from labs are extremely unlikely.
His own biosecure laboratory at Queen Mary College in London contains samples of the SARS virus (which killed several hundred people in Asia five years ago) and also the H5N1 bird flu virus which some scientists say has the potential to mutate into a virulent, infectious strain which could kill millions of humans worldwide.What would be the chances of, say, an animal rights extremist or Islamist terrorist getting a job as a lab assistant or even researcher in the laboratory, smuggling out avian flu or something equally nasty, and causing havoc? "The rules are extremely strict," Professor Oxford says. "I would never allow a student into my lab. I have only three members of staff who are experienced enough to go in there, and they are all personally known to me."One must assume, and hope, that similar rules are in place at other research establishments where such micro-organisms are kept...
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As in the days of Noah...
