Letter in response to 1 July 2014 article by Steve Connor in The Independent

To Doug Wills, Group Managing Editor for The Independent:    

We write in response to The Independent’s science editor, Steve Connor’s article “Exclusive: Controversial US scientist creates deadly new flu strain for pandemic research” (1 July 2014). His article is irresponsible, alarmist, sensational and, in many instances, blatantly false.

Clearly, Connor decided well before he reached out to the University of Wisconsin–Madison what kind of “story” he was going to manufacture. Why bother asking for facts when the plan is to fabricate a narrative?

Connor asked about a study we conducted on the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. We explained the objective of our study — to predict the natural changes in the virus that would require a new vaccine strain, in order to improve vaccine strain selection — and the methods we used, placing them in the context of influenza virus research conducted by many others around the world over the last three decades.

As any good science journalist knows, researchers cannot specifically discuss the details of research in pending manuscripts when they are in press and under embargo by the journal to which the work has been submitted. This was explained to Connor and was one of many facts he chose to ignore.

Among the most egregious of Connor’s misrepresentations:

• Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka mimicked the mutations that occur in nature, accelerating the process in order to predict changes that could help inform vaccine development. Such ‘antigenic escape’ studies are performed commonly in virology labs and Connor was provided with eight peer-reviewed influenza paper citations on this topic.
• The human population is not “defenseless” from the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus in the unpublished studies.
• The biosafety level of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus was lowered from BSL-3 to BSL-2 more than four years ago, once it was determined the virus was similar in pathogenicity to other seasonal human isolates, not because the world has developed a level of immunity. This work is not unique to Wisconsin. Similar studies with the same agent have been conducted in multiple labs worldwide.
• No responsible journalist refers to unnamed sources when trying to build a case for or against a particular perspective, especially on a topic as sensitive as research with human pathogens. Connor should identify and cite these “horrified” scientists, if in fact they exist.
• The 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus was no more pathogenic than other pandemic strains over the years such as the strains in 1957 and 1968.
• Dr. Kawaoka did not decline to provide material – he replied in full to Connor’s questions and made an effort to help Connor understand the status of the formerly ‘pandemic’ virus and the use of immune escape studies in influenza research.
• All members of the University of Wisconsin’s Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) have access to all details of the experiments a researcher conducts, including Dr. Kawaoka’s. Dr. Tom Jeffries has declined a tour of the UW Influenza Research Institute and has never requested to review Dr. Kawaoka’s protocols and records. If Jeffries was unaware of the research, it was due to his own failure to avail himself of all opportunity to become informed about work in a lab he claims to be deeply concerned about.
• The 1918 virus was not reconstructed by Dr. Kawaoka. Multiple researchers at several institutions have studied the 1918 virus safely for nearly a decade.

Connor’s story is an “exclusive” only because it contains a great deal of fiction.

—Timothy Yoshino, Chair, UW–Madison Biosecurity Task Force

—Susan West, UW–Madison Institutional Biosafety Committee

The Independent’s response

From: Steve Connor

Subject: Re: Letter in response to 1 July 2014 influenza article

Date: July 2, 2014 at 12:55:20 PM CDT

 

Thanks Kelly

Don’t shoot the messenger 

Steve

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.