Never mind GM soybeans or tomatoes! Smallpox virus, “one of the biggest killers in the history of infectious diseases” (The Independent, 22 January 2005) could soon join the list of GM organisms, that is if the World Health Organisation (WHO) committee give their approval.

This rather surprising recommendation to create GM smallpox virus comes from senior scientific advisors of the WHO and has caused quite a stir within the scientific community.

Smallpox was eradicated in 1977, but amidst fears of its use in a bioterrorist attack, there is pressure to develop new effective drugs against the disease. Nonetheless, “the man [Professor Donald Henderson] who led the successful global vaccination campaign to eradicate smallpox from the wild said he opposed the move on the grounds that the scientific benefits were not worth the risks to public health” (The Independent). He was reported to fear that a more virulent form of the virus could inadvertently be created. This scenario is not without precedent — this is exactly what happened four years ago when a team of Australian scientists modified a mousepox virus. “The researchers were trying to create a rodent contraceptive. Instead, they produced a disease that killed every one of its mouse victims, by wiping out part of their immune system.” (BBC Online, 2 February 2005)

Who knows if the fears are justified; the modification in question only involves inserting a GFP sequence into the viral genome to facilitate future drug screening. “The quickest way to screen a large database of compounds is to have an automated way” (The Independent), something that could be achieved by screening for GFP expression.