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Dutch and American scientists have succeeded in mutating a deadly bird-flu virus to make it easily transmissible to humans. If it got out, it could start a fatal epidemic. They keep it securely locked away in their laboratories, but want to publish the biological recipe for making it. In an unprecedented move, the U.S. government is pressing them to keep the details of their experiments secret for fear that bio-terrorists could use the organism to kill hundreds of millions of people.
In the UK there are more than 300 laboratories working on the second highest danger level organisms such as tuberculosis. In 10 of them, they work at the highest risk level on viruses like ebola and the most deadly strains of flu. Every year there are hundreds of biological related incidents reported to the Health and Safety Executive but while the headline numbers are published the details are shrouded in secrecy and rarely come to light.
Meanwhile, a rapidly developing branch of science known as 'synthe

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