U.S. Stockpiles Smallpox Drug in Case of Bioterror Attack - NYTimes.com - 0 views
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The United States government is buying enough of a new smallpox medicine to treat two million people in the event of a bioterrorism attack, and took delivery of the first shipment of it last week. But the purchase has set off a debate about the lucrative contract, with some experts saying the government is buying too much of the drug at too high a price.
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Smallpox was eradicated by 1980, and the only known remaining virus is in government laboratories in the United States and Russia
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Experts say the virus could also be re-engineered into existence in a sophisticated genetics lab.
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After reading this article, I thought about how much fear and the perceived threat of terrorism can be used quite effectively as manipulative tools. The article seemed to suggest that, because the US is so afraid/wary of a bioterrorism attack involving smallpox, we were willing to pay an excessive amount of money for emergency-use vaccines.