US army: Synthetic bioterror weapons is a new nightmare scenario
Synthetic biology uses recent developments in biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology to engineer living organisms.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBIsraeli army Technicians carry out a diagnostic test for coronavirus in a IDF lab in central Israel on July 15, 2020.(photo credit: YOSSI ZELIGER/FLASH90)
In the shadow of the coronavirus, synthetic biological-terror weapons may alter “the threat landscape” which the world faces to rival the threat of nuclear war, five experts linked to the US Military Academy have written.In a recently published article in the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point Journal, they write that synthetic biology “is a rapidly developing and diffusing technology. The wide availability of the protocols, procedures, and techniques necessary to produce and modify living organisms combined with an exponential increase in the availability of genetic data is leading to a revolution in science.”They add that the impact will magnify threats to an extent “that can be rivaled only by the development of the atomic bomb.”Synthetic biology uses recent developments in biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology to engineer living organisms.The five authors are: J. Kenneth Wickiser, Kevin J. O’Donovan, Lt.-Col. Michael Washington, Maj. Stephen Hummel and Col. F. John Burpo. All serve at, or are affiliated with the Department of Chemistry and Life Science at the United States Military Academy.Although developments in synthetic biology offer “effective and efficient means with which to cure disease, increase food production, and improve quality of life for many people, they can also be used by state and non-state actors to develop engineered biological weapons,” says the article.In their article, the authors write that synthetic biology has “placed the ability to recreate some of the deadliest infectious diseases known well within the grasp of the state-sponsored terrorist and the talented non-state actor.”Further, the article claims, “the techniques used to propagate bacteria and viruses and to cut and paste genetic sequences from one organism to another are approaching the level of skill required to use a cookbook or a home computer.”Next, the article states that, “The threat of bioengineered agents is all the more clear as the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the enormous impact that a single biological agent, even a naturally occurring one, can have on society.”“It is likely that terrorist organizations are monitoring these developments closely and that the probability of a biological attack with an engineered agent is steadily increasing,” warn the authors.They argue that “an effective response to the threats posed by those using synthetic biology for nefarious purposes will require vigilance on the part of military planners, the development of effective medical countermeasures by the research community, and the development of diagnostic and characterization technologies capable of discriminating between natural and engineered pathogens.”In one anecdote, the article notes that in 2018, a small Canadian research group was successful in constructing infectious horsepox virus directly from genetic information obtained solely from a public database for the relatively modest sum of $100,000 in U.S. currency.According to the article, Horsepox is a genetically distinct relative of the now extremely rare smallpox virus - meaning similar techniques at low cost could potentially be used to produce a planet-wide threatening disease.
