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For example, the current policy does not cover reconstructing an extinct virus such as horsepox, a relative of smallpox.

Several vaccines are also in early stages of development, including some that rely on horsepox.

In 2018 a paper describing the complete synthesis of the horsepox virus was published in PLOS, prompting debate and outcry about dual-use research from the scientific and global health communities.

Other recent examples of such science include the creation of a flu mutant better able to spread in mammals and the synthetic creation of the extinct horsepox virus, a cousin of the virus that causes smallpox.

In 2016, researchers in Canada announced that they had created horsepox using pieces of DNA ordered from companies.