Jamie L. Adcock, Knoxville
Although I normally respect Dan Thomasson's opinions, his Dec. 25 column set off alarm bells at so many levels I felt I had to respond. As a retired professor at the University of Tennessee, I have no hidden agenda. When I heard about the bird flu results, and the discussions on PBS of Dr. Anthony Fauci and one of the editors of Science, I, too, was shocked, but not in the same way as Dan. I was shocked at how "easy" it was to accomplish the few mutations necessary to make H5N1 easily transmissible without losing its virulence. This is truly alarming, because it means that the virus might, quite naturally, mutate in just a few years to a truly worldwide pandemic such as the 1919 swine flu pandemic that killed more people than the horrors of World War I. We must be ready, and knowledge, not ignorance, will be our salvation. Ignorance won't stop the natural processes by which viruses move between species and exchange genetic material — it is the way they obey the "biological imperative" to survive and multiply.
His prescriptions for remedy are truly frightening: government ownership and control of the scientific results it sponsors. It is the scientist's idea that leads innovation and advancement; the government merely makes it possible to do so in an open environment. Government control concentrates power, and as we know power corrupts. A government, corporations or fanatics of any ilk in control of the existential fate of humanity is truly scary. Open knowledge allows us to prepare, make a vaccine, inoculate all people and protect ourselves. Otherwise millions, even billions, could sicken and die. Wouldn't it be horribly ironic if the descendants of the dinosaurs, the chicken, led to our demise? I hope you got your pandemic H1N1 vaccination last year. Do you trust the government with such power? Which power? Who do you trust?
knoxnews
Although I normally respect Dan Thomasson's opinions, his Dec. 25 column set off alarm bells at so many levels I felt I had to respond. As a retired professor at the University of Tennessee, I have no hidden agenda. When I heard about the bird flu results, and the discussions on PBS of Dr. Anthony Fauci and one of the editors of Science, I, too, was shocked, but not in the same way as Dan. I was shocked at how "easy" it was to accomplish the few mutations necessary to make H5N1 easily transmissible without losing its virulence. This is truly alarming, because it means that the virus might, quite naturally, mutate in just a few years to a truly worldwide pandemic such as the 1919 swine flu pandemic that killed more people than the horrors of World War I. We must be ready, and knowledge, not ignorance, will be our salvation. Ignorance won't stop the natural processes by which viruses move between species and exchange genetic material — it is the way they obey the "biological imperative" to survive and multiply.
His prescriptions for remedy are truly frightening: government ownership and control of the scientific results it sponsors. It is the scientist's idea that leads innovation and advancement; the government merely makes it possible to do so in an open environment. Government control concentrates power, and as we know power corrupts. A government, corporations or fanatics of any ilk in control of the existential fate of humanity is truly scary. Open knowledge allows us to prepare, make a vaccine, inoculate all people and protect ourselves. Otherwise millions, even billions, could sicken and die. Wouldn't it be horribly ironic if the descendants of the dinosaurs, the chicken, led to our demise? I hope you got your pandemic H1N1 vaccination last year. Do you trust the government with such power? Which power? Who do you trust?
knoxnews
