The report points out that the rapid progress people have made in creating artificial viruses is exactly what makes us vulnerable to such attacks.
The rapid rise of synthetic biology, a field of biological and technological research that combines biology and engineering, with the goal of designing and building useful biological devices and systems, has also increased the risk of a new generation of biological weapons.
At least that’s what the US report, done in this area, tells us.
Progress in the field means, accordingly The Guardian, that scientists can create infectious viruses, turn a harmful bacterium into a deadly one, and alter common microbes so that they emit lethal toxins once they enter the body.
These three scenarios are categorized as threats of maximum concern, according to the research published on Tuesday by the US National Academy of Sciences, conducted at the request of the Department of Defense.
The report was asked to point out ways in which this technology could be abused, but also to highlight ways in which people can prepare for a biological attack.
“We cannot assess how likely these scenarios are, but we can talk about how feasible they are,” said Michael Imperiale, chairman of the commission that drafted the report.
In the paper, scientists show how synthetic biology, which gives researchers the precise tools to manipulate living organisms, “improves and expands” opportunities to create biological weapons.
Anthrax spores were created by man
20 years ago, The Guardian points out, Eckard Wimmer, a geneticist at Stony Brook University in New York, highlighted the potential dangers of synthetic biology when he recreated the poliovirus in a test tube. It triggers polio, an acute viral infectious disease.
Earlier this year, a team at the University of Alberta recreated an infectious virus, similar to the one that triggers smallpox.
The smallpox epidemic was one of the greatest catastrophes of mankind, killing and disfiguring a huge number of people over the centuries. Between 300 and 500 million people died of smallpox in the twentieth century alone.
“The technology that allows the creation of such a virus is available now. Expertise is needed, but it is easy to do and that is why a possible biological attack is extremely dangerous,” Imperiale added.
The report calls on the US government to rethink how it monitors disease so that it can better detect new biological weapons and find ways to defend against them, such as creating more effective vaccines.
– .
