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[–] 100 points 11 months ago (10 children)

Yeah it's not that simple, wikipedia has a good summary:

Advocates of final destruction maintain that there is no longer any valid rationale for retaining the samples, which pose the hazard of escaping the laboratories, while opponents of destruction maintain that the samples may still be of value to scientific research, especially since variants of the smallpox virus may still exist in the natural world and thus present the possibility of the disease re-emerging in the future or being used as a bio-weapon.

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  • [–] 31 points 11 months ago

    Exactly, know your enemy, especially if you think you have defeated it.

    We are about to see all the "defeated" diseases make a comeback due to politicians interfering in preventative healthcare. All in order to drive up revenue for big pharma and corporate healthcare from the increase in sick people.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (5 children)

    Keep the virus data in a computer where it can't escape from.

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago (4 children)

    We're not to the point that that's possible.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (3 children)

    How big is its genome? There isn't much in a virus.

    People can replicate a lot of them from purely data.

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  • [–] 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

    How many distinct genomes are there that we include under the label "smallpox"? It's also a great deal more complicated than simply storing the genome - much as gene expression in humans is more complicated than simply "this is what the DNA says", it's also more complicated than that for viruses. We're finally to the point that we can simulate interactions, but it's -absolutely- not a trivial thing to do (supercomputer shit) and simply saving the source material prevents any risk of loss of information.

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