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Smallpox was declared to be eradicated on 8 May 1980, during the Thirty-third World Health Assembly. However, concerns about the possible use of the virus as a weapon of bioterrorism have increased in recent years. Governments have responded by initiating selective vaccination programmes and other public health measures. This review uses historical data from 20th century outbreaks to assess the risks to current populations (which have declining immunity) from a deliberate release of virus. The data presented supports the conclusion of a previous reviewer (Mack) that "smallpox cannot be said to live up to its reputation. Far from being a quick-footed menace, it has appeared as a plodding nuisance with more bark than bite." Its R value (the average number of secondary cases infected by a primary case) is lower than that for measles, human parvovirus, chickenpox, mumps, rubella, and poliomyelitis; only the value for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is lower. Like SARS, close person-to-person contact is required for effective spread of the disease, and exposure to the virus in hospitals has played an important role in transmission for both viruses. In the present paper the dangers of mass vaccination are emphasized, along with the importance of case isolation, contact tracing, and quarantine of close contacts for outbreak control. The need for rapid diagnosis and the continued importance of maintaining a network of electron microscopes for this purpose are also highlighted.

The severe outbreak of E.coli poisoning in Scotland during Nov 1996 caused 500 cases of illness and 20 deaths and resulted in calls for reform of the food safety laws in the UK. Regulations on food safety must be enforced strictly and the regulators must be given help to stop intimidation from those being inspected. Food safety laws may be limited due to pressure from commercial enterprises particularly if there is a lack of scientific evidence to support the introduction of new regulations. Investigations into cases of infection should lead to reforms to prevent another outbreak.

Policymakers in the United Kingdom could have contained, or possibly even prevented, disasters such as BSE or foot-and-mouth disease if they had not dismissed the advice of scientific experts. It is argued that policymakers have in the past been too keen to dismiss the advice of the UK's scientific community - which has proved itself to be able to deliver scientific discoveries efficiently, effectively and economically - in order to pursue more publicly and politically palatable policies, thereby leaving the way open for otherwise avoidable catastrophes to occur.

On 18 September, there will be a referendum in Scotland to decide whether it should become an independent country. As scientists and members of the campaign group Academics Better Together, [...]

The UK government must create a Food Standards Agency to counter public concerns over the health implications of genetically modified foods. Public concern increased in February 1999 following widespread publication of unvalidated research by Arpad Pusztai suggesting that genetically modified potatoes caused health defects in laboratory rats. Genetically modified foods can offer various benefits, but the public is refusing to acknowledge them because of ungrounded anxieties and a lack of understanding of the scientific factors involved.

Author(s): Hugh Pennington [1] by Robert Bud Oxford University Press: 2007. 344 pp. £30, $55 Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in September 1928. He sent his initial observations to the British [...]

Author(s): Hugh Pennington [1] The Life and Death of Smallpox by Ian Glynn & Jenifer Glynn Profile Books (UK)/Cambridge University Press (US): 2004. 288pp. £17.99/$25 [illus. 1] 'The world and [...]