Research into the H5N1 virus has to be carried out in highly controlled conditions
The World Health Organization has delayed a decision about whether controversial research into the H5N1 bird flu virus should be published.
It had been looking at how the work could be released while guarding against its abuse by bioterrorists.
But a meeting in Geneva decided more discussions were needed to see if it could be possible to publish in full.
One of the two journals which want to publish has already agreed to wait for talks to be complete.
Mutation fearsThe controversy is centred on two research papers - one of which was submitted to Science, the other to another leading journal, Nature, last year.
They showed that the H5N1 virus could relatively easily mutate into a form that could spread rapidly among the human population.
The studies prompted the US National Security Advisory Board for Biotechnology (NSABB) to ask both journals last November to redact some sensitive parts of the research, which it believed could be used by terrorists to develop such a virus.
The request caused outcry among some scientists who believed that it was an infringement of academic freedom.
Some pointed out that the scientists had given presentations about their work at conferences and the details were already widely circulated, so redaction would have little purpose.
The scientists who carried out the research, and the journals concerned, have been considering the request and listening to suggestions as to how the research results could be redacted in the scientific journals, but distributed to bona fide researchers who urgently need the information.
The information is vital to develop a vaccine to any human form of bird flu, and it would enable surveillance teams to see if the bird flu virus was mutating into a form that could be transmissible to humans.
But such efforts have been put on hold for four months as governments, scientists and the journals decide what to do.
The Geneva meeting of 22 scientists and journal represenatives agred that publishing only parts of the research would not be helpful, because they would not give the full context of a complete paper.
Experts will now look at what information is already in the public domain and how that relates to the contents of these research papers.
A further meeting is likely to happen in a couple of months' time.
Nature has said it is happy to wait - if there is a chance they will able to publish in full.
Science's editor Dr Bruce Alberts, had previously said also wanted to publish full details of the work, unless progress was made on how to circulate details of the findings to scientists.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/17078818
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