Federal officials in the US have asked two research teams, one in the US and the other in the Netherlands to withhold details of their research in which they independently found ways to alter the H5N1 avian influenza to make it infectious to humans.

The officials are asking for the data to be withheld because of concerns that it might be used in bioterrorism or by terrorists or rogue states to harm people. The scientists, who are behind the research, have said that they are cooperating with the government officials and the editors of the journals Science and Nature.

The US government has asked the journals not to publish key parts of research on the H5N1 strain of bird flu so that the information is not misused. The move has drawn severe criticism from the scientific community, who has termed it as censorship of data that is important for finding cures to the disease. They say that hiding information could obstruct attempts to find new vaccines and drugs against the infection.

Scientists have also expressed concern that the government actions are late as the details of the research are already shared among various scientists. The first team led by Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam and the second by Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison had submitted their research details to the journals.