Smallpox extinction

[Jay and Nancy Mone]

I think the best reason to keep the virus is in the case of the emergence 
of a new related disease, such as monkey pox, for which we may need tt 
may be neccessary to vaccinate for in the future.  The current vaccinia 
vaccine might not be the best vaccine for this emerging disease, and it 
might be neccessary to reengineer a new vaccine with the smallpox as 
starting material.
I don't think the biowarfare argument makes much sense.  It is difficult 
to imagine how, in the face of a bioattack against the US with smallpox, 
having a stock of our own would make a real difference.  We already have 
an effective vaccine that (I beleive) can be mass produced and 
distributed quickly. Unless we were considering an in kind retaliation 
vis a vis the mutually assured destruction policy of the cold war era.  
To me, this would be as unacceptable with smallpox as it was with nuclear 
weapons.

Jay M.