Should the remaining smallpox samples left on earth be destroyed or preserved?

[robocop666]

There are 2 remaining samples of smallpox left on earth. One in America and one in Russia. Should they be preserved or destroyed?

Preserve them

destroy them

[shish_kebab]

Control * alt * delete

[shish_kebab]

Thanks for the MHO

[robocop666]

this has no benefits and now can only leak. Destroy it ASAP. only thing is how do they do it safely?

[shish_kebab]

I don't know.

[Chas456]

Destroyed

[abc3643]

You preserve them, of course.

This is IT related, but it applies to pretty much everything in life:

Never work with original raw data; copy it and work with the copy. This way, if you make a mistake or need access to the original again, you have it.

Those samples of smallpox are "original data" for any medical research needed regarding smallpox or any similarly lethal pathogen.

[purplepoppy]

If America destroys theirs what guarantee is there Russia will? Better to keep it.

[robocop666]

for what purpose?

[MrChinaski]

@purplepoppy We must not allow a mineshaft gap!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSzoLCCX-Y

[KostasKouvalis]

I would still preserve them for research and as a record. I didn't even know Small Pox has been eradicated.

[robocop666]

ok what research? we have the dna mapped and know how it works. all it can do now is accidentally leak

[msc545]

They need to be preserved and protected. You never know when we might need them again if there is another smallpox outbreak, and they could provide useful samples.

[robocop666]

its extinct and long long gone now. Why not destroy it?

[NathanDavis]

no... that's ignorance

[Agape93]

Preserved. Give them to me.

[Anonymous]

Destroyed so no one uses it as a weapon

[robocop666]

or a lab leak like covid or the russian plague. This is also a theory of certain strains of lymes disease.