The publication of a letter signed by 40 virus researchers in the journals Science and Nature has signaled the lifting of the moratorium on bird flu research, at least in non-U.S.-based facilities. The BBC reports that, “The United States has not decided on the conditions under which it will allow the experiments to take place and the same applies to U.S.-funded research taking place in other countries.” The report quotes Professor Ron Fouchier, from the Erasmus Medical Centre, as saying that it had been “frustrating” to shut down research for a year. “This research is urgent, while we are having this pause bird flu virus continues to evolve in nature and we need to continue this research.”

The controversy leading to the moratorium, which started as a 60-day moratorium that eventually extended to a year, revolved around research conducted at both Erasmus University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The researchers discovered that it would take between five and nine mutations in the genetic code of the virus to “allow it to start a deadly pandemic.” The U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) requested that academic journals not publish the research findings. NSABB expressed concern that terrorists would mine the findings to help develop a biological weapon.

The immediate reaction from within the science community was two-fold: one group was outraged over their academic freedom to publish being restricted, while another group cited the risk of the virus escaping and spreading as being too great to allow such research to continue. The journals Science and Nature eventually published the results, but scientists agreed to an initial 60-day moratorium.

The BBC report cites Professor Robert May of the University of Oxford and former president of the Royal Society as saying, “These are not bad people, they are good people with good intentions, but they look through rose-coloured glasses at the security of the laboratories.” Professor May added: “It will get out. That’s why I feel the world is a safer place if we maintain this moratorium”