Busienss Standard / New Delhi October 16, 2008, 0:14 IST The selective ban imposed by the US on the export of vaccines for bird flu and some other common viruses (selective because it is applicable to just a few countries) defies logic, and is a case of mixing politics with common international endeavour for the general good. The countries chosen for the embargo are the likes of North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Syria and Sudan, which are deemed by the US to be sponsors of terrorism. The reason proffered for this action is that they might use the vaccines for biological warfare, but this argument has no logic to back it. The denial of access to vaccines against diseases which honour no international boundaries, can prove dangerous in the event of an epidemic, and the apprehensions about the potential misuse of the vaccines are ill-founded. Widely-held scientific opinion discounts the possibility of bird flu vaccines being genetically altered to craft bio-weapons because they contain inactivated viruses that cannot be regenerated. Besides, since several strains of avian influenza viruses are still present in several pockets of the globe, anyone with nefarious designs can easily use them directly, without having to take the circuitous route of converting the vaccines into organic weapons. The real objective of the US move, therefore, must be something other than what is stated. Perhaps it is a simple repeat of the Iraq war story