It emerged in December that the authorities in the United States had recommended withholding from general publication the detailed results and methods of the study, as well as those of a second one led by Yoshihiro Kawaoka, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. (This also created transmissible strains, albeit less virulent ones.) Both studies had received grants from America's National Institutes of Health (NIH).

ECONOMIST: The saga over research into bird flu reaches a climax

And when the government's advisers recommended banning traditional Jewish and Muslim methods of slaughtering animals, both lots lobbied against the measure.

ECONOMIST: How complaining brings surprising groups together