Scare Tactics

By: Mr. Wilson on January 13, 2006

I'm not saying bird flu isn't an important topic, or that we shouldn't try to halt its spread. But crap like this is nothing but propaganda and irresponsible scare tactics:

"We assume this [mutation, which allows the virus to bind to a human cell more easily than to a bird cell] could be one small step in the virus' attempt to adapt to humans," said WHO virologist Mike Perdue.

What the heck kind of virologist is this guy? Viruses don't attempt to do anything, and they certainly don't "attempt to adapt to humans". Viruses don't even know humans exist. A virus's job, it's only goal, is to make copies of itself. Along the way, some of those copies are imperfect. We call those imperfections "mutations". But mutations are accidental, not guided by some diabolical plan to take over the world. (Unless, of course, they are diabolical, in that the Devil himself is guiding the mutation process.) When a mutation a) doesn't kill a virus, and b) allows it to reproduce, that mutation sticks around. Otherwise, it disappears. That's all there is to it. It is unforgivable for a scientist to engage in this sort of pandering to the public's paranoia about and ignorance of the mutation process.

Lincolnite

Scare Tactics

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