The Eradication of Smallpox

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the ethical issues associated with the eradication of any naturally occurring element of the environment, including smallpox, concern the unknown ramifications of this action on the planet for eons to come. The author raises the question that if the eradication of one element, such as smallpox, makes sense, what other biological irritants, such as pollen for the millions of allergy suffers, should be eliminated? Where does it stop? The paper concludes that, because the smallpox virus can be considered a catastrophic biological weapon of terrorism, this virus should be eradicated based on the ethical principle of the good of the many.

From the Paper:

"Smallpox is a deadly virus that has existed for centuries. In the past, global smallpox epidemics have killed millions of people, and the virus still hangs on, despite extraordinary efforts to eradicate it. One author writes, "By some estimates, smallpox killed as many as 500 million people during the twentieth century alone, and as recently as thirty years ago, it was still at large in over thirty countries." Officially, the disease was eradicated globally in 1977, but some strains of the disease still exist in laboratories."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Koplow, David A. Smallpox: The Fight to Eradicate a Global Scourge. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003.
• "The National Science and Technology Council on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases." Population and Development Review 22.1 (1996): 175+.
• Orent, Wendy. "The Smallpox Wars." The American Prospect May 1999: 49.

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