Controversy over

Although reports of farm chickens getting culled on account of bouts of bird flu have become somewhat subdued these days, there is everything to suggest that the H5N1 virus which causes the feared disease continues to be tinkered with, for good and for bad. It is not known what resulted from the bird ( the egg rather ) that had reportedly been genetically engineered not very long ago, to be resistant to the flu. But it now emerges that two separate research teams - one in the United States and the other in the Netherlands --- have both succeeded in altering the avian flu in ways that makes it easily transmissible between mammals, humans included. What makes it rather controversial is the fact that top US scientists involved in the research have been seeking to stop the details from being published even in peer-reviewed scientific journals on the plea that the data would fall into the 'wrong hands.' However, how 'right' the so-called responsible quarters would be, is equally controversial, given the history of bio-weaponry. The chairman of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) was reported as saying that it is 'such a dangerous biological weapon, it would not be controllable. Whoever used it would doubtlessly decimate their own people.' But, he added, since the genetic engineering of H5N1 was sponsored by the US government in the first place, it should step forward now and take the responsibility of warding off the likelihood of an 'uncontrollable pandemic'. It may be mentioned here that although bird flu has been rare to hit humans, it proved quite fatal when it did, killing one in every two, when H5N1 first infected humans in 1997. A total of 350 deaths were reported then. Over the past two decades, up until the bane of Avain influenza visited Bangladesh, the livestock sector, particularly poultry, in the country had been showing a spectacular annual growth on average. Entrepreneurs in this avowedly agro-based industry, however, have not been getting their due, according to industry insiders. They fault the government with bending backwards to make space for big foreign companies instead, while driving many modest poultry farmers in the country totally out of business. Avian flu no doubt, had a role in it making poultry an increasingly high risk sector. The worst impact from the H5N1 virus in Bangladesh was in 2007, when indiscriminate culling of poultry birds was carried out not only in the affected farms, but panic-ridden farmers as far away as one kilometer from them were found killing their birds as well. That had given a body blow to the booming industry (Tk 15 billion then), incurring a loss of at least Taka 5.0 billion. The poultry industry could reasonably be credited with making class one protein, in the form of eggs and meat, affordable and accessible even to the poor in Bangladesh . This is no doubt of great value, given the fact that fish had long gone beyond the reach of most of Bangladesh's impoverished folk. All stakeholders, and the government as well, must have their eyes and ears open, to strengthen surveillance in the sector and to keep up hygienic standards, keeping in mind that in this world of commerce, economic warfare rather than robust rivalry is the norm. The NSABB official has also pointed out that there are radical elements throughout the world, from doomsday cults to suicide bombers, and even leading world governments, and it would be a fallacy to say that 'people wouldn't construct and use a weapon that is so deadly that it couldn't be controlled even by most developed countries.'