Lab suspends H5N1 bird flu work on new China rules

HONG KONG (Reuters) – A laboratory jointly run by
universities in Hong and China said Tuesday it had suspended
studies into the H5N1 bird flu virus after Beijing issued new
guidelines which triggered fears of a crackdown on academic
freedom and independent research into the deadly disease.

The new rules were issued on May 30, five days after the
Joint Influenza Research Center sent an article to the
international journal Nature which said that infected wild
birds in western China might have picked up the virus from
poultry farms in southern China.

A day after the article was published, Jia Youling,
director general of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Veterinary
Bureau, criticized the findings and said no bird flu had broken
out in southern China this year.

In comments carried on Xinhua’s Web site, Jia also said the
joint laboratory lacked “the basic conditions for biological
safety” and had not obtained government approval for carrying
out bird flu virus research, even though it had initially been
empowered by Beijing to study the disease.

The new regulations require laboratories to obtain
permission from the ministry before they can carry out research
on deadly pathogens and restrict studies into H5N1 to three
government laboratories.

A statement by the research center, which is sponsored by
the University of Hong Kong and Shantou University, said it was
in full compliance with the World Health Organization’s safety
guidelines for work on bird flu viruses, but had suspended work
on the H5N1 strain while it applied for government permission.

The H5N1 virus has killed more than 50 people in Asia since
late 2003 and health experts fear it could kill millions around
the world if it mutates into a form that could easily spread
from person to person.

“The Joint Center has also made an application to MoA
(Ministry of Agriculture) for permission to work on ‘highly
pathogenic micro-pathogens’ in order to ensure all research is
conducted within the legal requirements,” the research center
said in a statement.

A University of Hong Kong spokeswoman could not immediately
comment Tuesday if the ministry had put pressure on the
laboratory to halt its H5N1 research.

The agriculture ministry in Beijing declined to comment.

China faced criticism for covering up the initial outbreak
of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in late 2002. SARS quickly
spread around the world, infecting over 8,000 people and
killing around 800 of them.

However, the WHO recently praised Beijing’s commitment to
battling bird flu, which made the first known jump to humans in
Hong Kong in 1997.