Selgelid Michael J
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Am J Bioeth. 2003 Winter;3(1):W-IF 1. doi: 10.1162/152651603322781620.
This article reviews the history of smallpox and ethical issues that arise with its threat as a biological weapon. Smallpox killed more people than any infectious disease in history--and perhaps three times more people in the 20th Century than were killed by all the wars of that period. Following a WHO-sponsored global vaccination campaign, smallpox was officially declared eradicated in 1980. It has since been revealed that the Soviet Union, until its fall in the early 1990s, manufactured tens of tons of smallpox for military purposes. A worry is that some of this may have fallen into the hands of "rogue" nations or terrorists. Current U.S. debate questions whether smallpox vaccine should therefore be made available to the American public, which--like the rest of the world--now lacks immunity. Because the vaccine is considerably dangerous, public dialogue cannot resolve this matter if evidence material to the likelihood of attack is classified (i.e. secret). I conclude by recommending numerous future areas for ethics research related to the weaponization of smallpox.
本文回顾了天花的历史以及天花作为生物武器构成威胁时所引发的伦理问题。天花造成的死亡人数超过历史上任何一种传染病——在20世纪，天花致死人数可能比该时期所有战争死亡人数的总和还要多两倍。在世卫组织发起的全球疫苗接种运动之后，天花于1980年被正式宣布根除。后来发现，直到20世纪90年代初解体，苏联一直在为军事目的生产数十吨天花病毒。令人担忧的是，其中一些病毒可能落入了“流氓”国家或恐怖分子手中。美国目前的辩论聚焦于是否应向美国公众提供天花疫苗，而如今美国公众和世界其他地区一样都缺乏免疫力。由于该疫苗存在相当大的危险性，如果有关攻击可能性的关键证据被列为机密（即保密），公众对话就无法解决这个问题。我最后建议了未来与天花武器化相关的众多伦理研究领域。
