So, just how and where do countries destroy vials of flu virus?

[hector459]

No, no, don't tell me. They must burn them right? Drop them in the ocean? Trash dump? Down the lab drain? How? And then tell me why we don't have to worry?

[mcscajun]

1. Yes, they incinerate them. They did the same thing with smallpox.

And we're talking Serious Incineration here.

http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/uspc588/defs588.htm

You'll probably worry anyway.

[Worst Username Ever]

2. Fire kills viruses and bacteria.

Viruses are also killed by ultra violet light. If you incinerate or boil flu virus, it dies and is no longer contagious.

[Warpy]

3. Incineration

The virus is a fragile one and won't survive boiling, much less burning.

[signmike]

4. Incineration is not where I see the weak link . . .

Why do they have samples of the stuff sent to 5,000 labs all over the world? How are they transported? By the TrustMe $3 an hour Teenager Courier Service, like in this country? Not much chance of a screw up there...organs don't get lost...

Remember the ads DHL used to show on TV where the "other guys" used just anybody to deliver important stuff -- I've never worked for DHL, but I worked for a fly-by-night courier outfit that handled hundreds of DHL packages every day . . .

Why are they shipping thousands of these things around if they already know it's deadly - and they know how to get rid of it ---- why not just get rid of it? Because they WANT somebody to turn it loose...?

:wtf:

[mcscajun]

7. The samples were test kits...to test the lab's abilities to identify

the various viruses.

[Willy Lee]

8. Even scarier- these were blind samples,

meaning that the recipients had no idea what was in them. I woul dventure that many of the labs receiving them (as part of their CAP certifications) were not even equipped to deal with this strain of influenza.

[mcscajun]

9. Well, they'd have to be "blind" samples for a proper test of the lab.

That's how the error was discovered, during a test by a Canadian lab.

[Willy Lee]

10. True- but of hundreds of strains to choose from

in the stock of influenza A strains on hand, the blind samples they chose to send were those that caused the 1957 outbreak. This doesn't seem too wise a choice.

[mcscajun]

11. No. It surely wasn't. And the fault lies with the company that chose

the selection. They thought it was "innocuous". Sounds to me like another case of forgetting history. How many folks who work at that company, and others like it, remember what happened in 1957?

[sniffa]

5. they just dump them

in some sub-saharan african countries.

[SoCalDem]

6. School lunch programs??

:shrug::evilgrin:.. Hey with the group we have in charge, they wouldn't want to waste it :)

[BiggJawn]

12. Mop water at your local Piggly-Wiggly...

It's a DOD "experiment"....:tinfoilhat: