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Reuters A panel of scientists that earlier warned the U.S. government about the risks of disclosing two research papers reversed course Friday, recommending that two studies on avian influenza be published in journals. In December, the same panel advised federal officials to ask two major journals, Science and Nature, to withhold details of the studies, sparking dueling debates over whether potentially dangerous research should be pursued at all, and what role the government should play in policing its dissemination. Both researchers had created mutations of the so-called bird flu virus that could easily jump between lab animals. The advisory panel, called the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity , had initially warned that full publication of the methods and results could offer a blueprint for terrorists who may want to make the highly lethal virus transmissible between humans. Normally, the virus spreads from poultry to humans, but not between humans. The panel reviewed revised versions of the two papers ? by Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands and Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin ? on Thursday and Friday and decided the latest copies were fit for publication. ?The data described in the revised manuscripts do not appear to provide information that would immediately enable misuse of the research in ways that would endanger public health or national security,? according to a statement released by the panel. Dr. Kawaoka?s paper got a unanimous thumbs up from the reviewers, while Dr. Fouchier?s was recommended for publication by a 12-6 vote. The recommendations will go on to federal officials at the National Institutes of Health for a final decision. The December vote to recommend against publishing the full details of the study was the first such decision by the panel, and shook the life-sciences researchers who customarily publish their findings in full. Anthony Fauci , the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a branch of the NIH, said in a brief interview that the federal health department would ?take this recommendation under advisement.? In a statement, Science, the journal that plans to publish Dr. Fouchier?s piece, said it applauded the advisory panel for reconsidering. Science said information presented at a recent World Health Organization meeting suggested Fouchier?s version of the virus was less dangerous than imagined, rebalancing the panel?s risk-benefit analysis. A spokeswoman for Nature couldn?t immediately be reached. The revised manuscripts will show, Science said, that Dr. Fouchier?s virus wasn?t fatal to his lab animals ? ferrets in this experiment ? when contracted through sneezes and coughs. ?The virus was fatal to ferrets only after animals were inoculated intratracheally at extremely high doses,? the statement said. Members of the advisory panel ? who were dispersing around the country following the meetings ? couldn?t immediately be reached.

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