- LONDON (Reuters) - Biological
and genetic weapons designed to kill specific ethnic or racial groups
are no longer the stuff of science fiction, British researchers warned
on Thursday.
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- A designer plague that would only kill Serbs or a toxin
engineered to affect Israelis or Kurds does not exist yet but advances
in biotechnology and the mapping of all human genes could be misused to
develop lethal weapons within five to 10 years.
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- Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the head of health policy research
at the British Medical Association (BMA), said genetic information is
already being used to enhance biological weapons.
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- ``It would be a tragedy if in 10 years time the world
faces the reality of genetically engineered and possibly genetically
targeted weapons,'' she told a news conference to launch a new book entitled
``Biotechnology Weapons and Humanity.''
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- ``It is not technology and information that is available
today, but it is becoming increasingly available. We do have a window
of opportunity before weapons of that type are manufactured to make sure
we have effective measures of prevention.''
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- The book by Professor Malcolm Dando, of the Department
of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in northern England, paints
a terrifying picture of the power of biological weapons.
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- The release of 100 kg (220 pounds) of anthrax spores
from canisters planted in a major city could wipe out up to three million
people.
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- The book traces the history of the development and use
of biological weapons and warns that scientific knowledge has been exploited
in the past and is likely to be misused in the future unless international
action is taken.
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- ``We believe biological weapons will become an increasing
weapon in terrorist activity,'' said Nathanson. ``An ethnically targeted
weapon becomes more of a reality.''
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- The designer weapon works on a similar principle to gene
therapy but instead of replacing faulty genes that don't work it exploits
genetic variations to target its victims.
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- For example, micro-organisms could be genetically engineered
to attack known receptor sites on the cell membrane or viruses could
be targeted at specific DNA sequences inside cells.
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- William Assche, the chairman of the BMA's board of science
and education, said the report is designed to raise public, medical and
political awareness about the dangers of biological weapons.
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- It urges the international community to strengthen the
1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention to improve verification
procedures. It also calls on doctors and scientists to protect the integrity
of their work and to monitor the potential use of genome mapping.
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- ``Getting rid of weapons once they are produced is very
difficult. Governments may be reluctant to give up weapons that the rest
of the world find unacceptable. Terrorists certainly will be,'' said Nathanson.
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- ``We still have the chance to strengthen the ban on these
weapons. We must do so now and we must make sure the ban is policed effectively.''
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- Ethno-Specific Genetic Weapons Termed Serious
Threat
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- BBC Online Health 1-21-99
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- Advances in genetic knowledge could be misused to develop
powerful biological weapons that could be tailored to strike at specific
ethnic groups, the British Medical Association has warned.
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- A BMA report Biotechnology, Weapons and Humanity says
that concerted international action is necessary to block the development
of new, biological weapons.
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- It warns the window of opportunity to do so is very narrow
as technology is developing rapidly and becoming ever more accessible.
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- "Recipes" for developing biological agents
are freely available on the Internet, the report warns.
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- As genetic manipulation becomes a standard laboratory
technique, there is a risk that this new information will also become
widely available.
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- Procedures to monitor against the misuse of this new
knowledge are urgently needed, the BMA says.
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- Abuse of knowledge
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- The report identifies two principal ways in which advancing
genetic knowledge could be misused for weapons development: * Genetic
information is already being used to "improve" elements of biological
weapons, for example by increasing their antibiotic resistance. These developments
raise the spectre of highly targeted biological weapons being used on
the battlefield. * Weapons could theoretically be developed which affect
particular versions of genes clustered in specific ethnic or family groups.
Although genetic weapons which target a particular ethnic group are not
currently a practical possibility, the report concludes it would be complacent
to assume that they could never be developed in the future.
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- Humans from apparently widely divergent social groups
actually have more similarities than differences in their genetic make
up. But differences do exist and as the Human Genome Project advances,
these differences can increasingly be identified.
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- The BMA report warns that legitimate research into microbiological
agents and genetically targeted therapeutic agents could be difficult
to distinguish from research geared towards developing more effective
weapons.
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- The BMA says that urgent action is needed to strengthen
the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.
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- This has not been effective in prohibiting the development
of biological weapons, the BMA says, because it does not have adequate
verification provisions.
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- The BMA has called on doctors and medical organisations
to campaign against the development of biological weapons.
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- Serious threat
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- Dr Vivienne Nathanson, BMA Head of Health Policy Research
said: "The history of humanity is a history of war.
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- "Scientific advances quickly lead to developments
in weapons technology.
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- "Biotechnology and genetic knowledge are equally
open to this type of malign use.
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- "Doctors and other scientists have an important
role in prevention. They have a duty to persuade politicians and international
agencies such as the UN to take this threat seriously and to take action
to prevent the production of such weapons."
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- Dr Nathanson warned that getting rid of weapons once
they are produced is difficult.
-
- "Governments may be reluctant to give up weapons
that the rest of the world finds unacceptable. Terrorists certainly will
be. We still have the chance to strengthen the ban on these weapons. We
must do so now and we must make sure the ban is policed effectively."
-
-
- Biotechnology, Weapons and Humanity traces the history
of chemical and biological weapons, and highlights their potentially devastating
potential for destruction.
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- On a clear, calm night, one to three million people could
become infected by the release of 100 kg of anthrax spores over a major
city, and the majority would die.
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- A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We would accept
the threat posed by biological weapons is a very grave one.
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- "Not only is the UK one of the signatories to the
international convention on biological weapons, it is arguing for that
convention to be strengthened.
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- "It is the only international arms convention not
to include verification regimes, and the UK believes that it should be
given those teeth."
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