International Meeting Will Focus on Censorship of Bird-Flu Research

The World Health Organization opens a meeting on Thursday to try to resolve a debate that pits science against security. Researchers and journals agreed to censor details of two projects showing how avian influenza virus could more easily move from birds to mammals, after the U.S. government expressed concern the method could be used by terrorists to create a deadly flu pandemic. But scientists did so under protest. Reuters reports that 22 experts will attend the meeting, and try to find a way to release data that could improve flu countermeasures without endangering world security.