New China H7N9 strain gives kick to mutant bird flu research

By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) – Dutch scientists hidden away in a top-security laboratory are seeking to create mutant flu viruses, dangerous work designed to prepare the world for a lethal pandemic by beating nature to it. The idea of engineering viral pathogens to be more deadly than they are already has generated huge controversy, amid fears that such viruses could leak out or fall into the wrong hands. …