I have a question for professional virologists, microbiologists, and
molecular geneticists: What is the potential for evil application of our
burgeoning ability to understand and manipulate pathogenic organisms?
Could this technology, if deliberately applied with evil intent, be
enormously destructive, even apocalyptic?
Some background: I have a Ph.D. in chemistry, and my thesis research was
in biophysics. For several years now, I have specialized in communicating
various biomedical research findings to scientists. I have seen firsthand
the astonishingly creative and immensely productive uses researchers find
for our growing understanding of all aspects of biological science. Just
one example: Researchers in Texas and elsewhere are far along in a
project to express antigens from pathogenic organisms in edible plants,
so that people might eat the plants, and thereby acquire immunity from
the pathogens. (The mucosal route for vaccine presentation is of great
current interest. The edible vaccine notion combines this research thrust
with a convenient and cheap method of producing and delivering the
antigens). This is only one example; anyone in biomedical science knows
that there is no end to the creativity and intellectual energy energizing
researchers today.
But: every technology, every intellectual triumph in science, has been
bent to the task of killing people. Atomic physics is only the most
dramatic example. Given that record, what is the potential for a
scientist, or group of scientists, to deliberately modify a pathogen--or
to stitch together from various sources--something that would have world-
changing potential--a virus that would spread wildly to kill a huge
portion of the global population, or a bacterium that only attacked a
specific ethnic group, or something else that is too horribly clever to
anticipate?
One thing that is clear from reading I've done so far is that many of the
biological weapons we already have--some of which have been around since
World War II--are exceedingly dangerous, and not all that hard to
manufacture. Most would-be bioterrorists would not bother to engineer
anything new when a few hundred gallons of anthrax spores, properly
aerosolized and dispersed over a metropolitan area from a small private
plane, could kill a million people (see, for example, a 1993 report from
OTA on weapons of mass destruction).
But I'm not thinking about terrorists--I'm asking a broader, perhaps more
theoretical, question: Given knowledgeable people with some funding and
bad intent, what is the potential for evil application of our current
ability to manipulate microorganisms? My experience over the years is
that bringing this subject up among scientists gets about the same
reaction as making a rude noise at a fancy dinner party. But if the a
horrible potential is there, don't biomedical scientists have a
responsibility to think about it?
I've posted this message on a few biological science newsgroups. I am
trying to organize some thoughts on this subject, and I'd like to hear
from anyone with an informed opinion on it, either by direct e-mail or
public postings to this space.
Thanks,
R. Taylor
nrzm57a at prodigy.com
