Biomedically speaking, what’s in a name? A lot, as it turns out. In August, an international team working in India unveiled their discovery of a gene encoding an enzyme that confers resistance to a broad range of antibiotics among a family of pathogenic bacteria in Lancet Infectious Diseases. There was widespread consternation that a new superbug was going to lead to incurable infections across the globe, and an equal amount of distress was voiced by the Indian government over the scientists’ decision to call the encoded protein ‘New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1’ (NDM-1), in honor of the city where the enzyme was first identified. Members of the Indian Parliament denounced the name choice as “malicious propaganda,” according to news reports, and the Indian health ministry disputed the scientists’ assertion that the gene variant originated in India and Pakistan.

But NDM-1 isn’t the first biomedical term to attract geopolitical controversy. Here are a few other naming disputes: (Click here to continue reading)