Research – Censoring Science Won’t Make Us Any Safer
Washington Post – In 1920, the Irish Republican Army reportedly considered a terrifying new weapon: typhoid-contaminated milk. Reading from an IRA memo he claimed had been captured in a recent raid, Sir Hamar Greenwood described to Parliament the ease with which “fresh and virulent cultures” could be obtained and introduced into milk served to British soldiers. Although the plot would only target the military, the memo expressed concern that the disease might spread to the general population.
Although the IRA never used this weapon, the incident illustrates that poisoning a nation’s milk supply with biological agents hardly ranks as a new concept. Yet just two weeks ago, the National Academy of Sciences’ journal suspended publication of an article analyzing the vulnerability of the U.S. milk supply to botulinum toxin, because the Department of Health and Human Services warned that information in the article provided a “road map for terrorists.”
more…
