US lifts ban on lethal virus experiments despite security risks
The US government has lifted a three-year ban on making lethal viruses in the lab, saying the potential benefits of disease preparedness outweigh the risks.
Labs will now be able to manufacture strains of influenza, Sars and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers).
The ban was imposed following safety breaches at federal institutions involving anthrax and avian flu.
Now a scientific review panel will have to green-light each research proposal.
It will only be allowed to go ahead if the panel determines there is no safer way to conduct the research and that the benefits it will provide justify the risk.
Critics say such "gain-of-function" research still risks creating an accidental pandemic.
But supporters of removing the ban say many US states are poorly prepared for an almost-inevitable outbreak of a deadly virus.
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