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Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!panix!.POSTED.2602:f977:0:1::2!not-for-mail
From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom,rec.arts.sf.science,rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: idiots walk among us
Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2025 10:37:14 -0400 (EDT)
Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000)
Message-ID: <vqk92q$ffq$1@panix2.panix.com>
References: <0001HW.2D7BB48800F8D22B70000998A38F@news.supernews.com> <vqi3sl$9328$1@dont-email.me> <vqi4q7$9je$1@reader1.panix.com>
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Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
>Mike Van Pelt <usenet@mikevanpelt.com> wrote:
>> Nobody gets vaccinated against smallpox any more, since the virus
>> is extinct.  In the wild.  I grimly await some (long string of
>> weapons-grade expletives) to break that out of the freezer and
>> inflict it on the world again.
>
>That may not be the only way it can happen.  At a book signing I asked
>James Watson if a terrorist could synthesize smallpox, given that its
>complete genome is in the open literature.  He said no, but he looked
>very uncomfortable when answering, so I'm skeptical.

It's more than just one big protein, so yeah, it's not going to be an
easy job for a terrorist to do.  It might be easier to find some in a
freezer somewhere.
--scott

-- 
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."