Gesundheit, Dr. Krauthammer

Charles Krauthammer's Friday Op-Ed in the Post did piggyback on the alarm (FINALLY) going on in Washington regarding Avian Flu, but missed the mark wildly. Describing the recent sequencing and publishing of the 1918 flu's genome, he rightly describes the milestone as "Big. Very big." In his subsequent digest, however, he betrays his normally insightful self:

On the other hand, resurrection of the virus and publication of its structure open the gates of hell.

Sure, Charlie - but this is how science works. Making the Spanish flu's sequence public is the best hope we have of effectively heading off not only the Avian crisis laying in wait, but also the possibility of a devastating biological terrorist attack. The answer to these potential crises is not shutting scientists off from one another. Transparency is.

You'd have thought Dr. K would have learned something from the horrifying arms races of the Cold War that were directly caused by the same kind of irrational information-hoarding mentality. Oh well.