Jane Bürgermeister lives in Vienna and, while working as a medical editor, was horrified to learn in early 2009 of the fiasco in which a Baxter International research facility in Orth-Donau, Austria, sent a quantity of human H3N2 viral material to 18 European laboratories.
Such a supply of experimental material would have been totally normal--except that in this instance the H3N2 had been somehow contaminated with live H5N1... the far more lethal Avian Flu.
As a medical editor, Jane immediately realized the import of what had happened - and what had nearly happened - and raised the alarm. But no-one in the Austrian media was interested. She then took matters into her own hands and filed legal charges against those who she considered the perpetrators to be.
Not long after Jane was dismissed from her job without explanation. Undeterred, she sought support on the internet and continued her campaign.
Blog Smith is inspired by the myth of Hephaestus in the creation of blacksmith-like, forged materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.