The DNA Bomb

Anonymous Coward writes: "While the world is scrambling to nail down the 1972 treaty of biological and chemical weapons, scientists are bracing for GM weapons. Some top experts in the field speculate in an article about "genetic assassination," "lifestyle targeting," "superweeds" to kill GM crops, etc. This goes way beyond just beefing up known pathogens or splicing a couple of them together, even beyond the 1997 fears of an "ethnic bomb." All very over-the-horizon, but fascinating. I'm glad these scientists stuck their necks out to discuss these controversial topics. Especially the step-by-step instructions for making a virus with one person's name on it given by William Nierman, the director of research of the Institute for Genomic Research, and a "lifestyle" weapon conceived by a Harvard geneticist. There's comment from the White House and others, too. At very least a fun read." A little premature reading about this today, but give it a few years... Reading about nuclear weapons in 1940 would have seemed outrageous too.

Comments

All you need is a DNA disassembler

[scruffy]

It is not unreasonable to believe that we can create any DNA sequence we want. The problem is figuring out what the DNA sequence does.

Once we can debug DNA reliably, these science fiction fantasies will become real. Isn't that what molecular biology is doing? I see lots of reasons to be fearful of the future. Is it realistic? Currently, it appears that no one knows, but lots of people are working on the problem, which is scary.

The Bigger problem...

[brianvan]

is exactly what you state. Things don't work as expected. We'll be trying to cure baldness and we may inadvertently sterilize the whole human race. Most discoveries are made by accident. The good AND the bad ones...

Who wants to help?

[ffatTony]

I'm making a cowboyneal pathogen

War in the Third Wave.

[friscolr]

Check out War and Anti-War, written by the Tofflers in 1993. It's all about war in the Information Age and how much of a difference targetted, smart weapons make from industrial-era mass destruction weapons.

A little premature reading about this today

That is ridiculous. It is essential to think of tomorrow's problems today.

"The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking... The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."
- Albert Einstein.

-f

A dangerous world

[Alien54]

Given that Radiation stays in one place, more or less, a nuclear weapon is relatively safe. A DNA weapon has no absolute gaurentees of safety, since the vectors can ultimately infiltrate every corner of earth. This becomes the blackmail of the suicide pack.

This ultimately is more dangerous than nuclear war, because in something like thind, with the relatively low costs, what are the odds that someone is ghoing to want to purify the earth of the scourge and polution of humanity? this would look very weird in the archeological record when the next big civilization comes along in 50 - 75 million years.

Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip

The original A-Bomb SciFi story

[Alien54]

There is this bit from a Fantasy and Science Fiction Column about a yarn about the A-Bomb printed during the 40's:

I had read Szilard's satirical sf novel The Voice of the Dolphins in 1961, and his sf short stories, and from him heard the story, famous in the genre, of how in the spring of 1944 Cleve Cartmill published a clear description of how an atomic bomb worked in Astounding SF, titled "Deadline." Szilard mentioned to me that Cartmill's bomb would not have worked, but the story did stress that the key problem was separating non-fissionable isotopes from the crucial Uranium 235.

This story became legend, proudly by fans touted after the war as proof of sf's predictive powers. It was a tale of an evil alliance called theAxis---oops, no, the Sixa---who are prevented from dropping the A-bomb, while their opponents, the Allies---no, oops, that's the Seilla---refrain from using the weapon, fearing its implications.

As Campbell never tired of telling, in March 1944 a captain in the Intelligence and Security Division and the Manhattan Project called for an investigation of Cartmill."

There is a lot more in the article, so go check it out. There are plenty of links if you do a common web search for the author's name, etc. The story in question has been in a number of anthologies, but I haven't found it online as far as downloading it goes.

Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip

Nuclear physics nit

[Spamalamadingdong]

... short of a metric assload of lead sheilding, theres nothing you can do about a neutron bomb.

Not even lead will save you from neutrons; what you want is hydrogen (water). THEN you use heavy stuff (lead works fine, so does stone) to stop the neutron-capture gammas. A pile of damp earth over some concrete is a reasonably effective shield.
--
Having 50 karma is an itchy feeling; I know I'll get

GM Weapons

[astaines]

Some problems -

It will probably be possible to make a virus which would require the presence of certain specific DNA elements in order to replicate i.e. to infect a host.

What will be distinctly trickier is to make such a virus and prevent it from mutating, perhaps so as to no longer require such specific DNA elements before replicating. Unlike humans (and complex organisms) which have elaborate machineries for detecting and fixing errors in DNA replication, viruses have none.

The first moral - analogies from computer science only apply to DNA up to a point. After that point they break down badly. Organisms are not Turing machines.

The second moral - the genetically engineered anti-[insert your pet hate group here]-virus is quite likely to turn around and exterminate you.

Before building your bio-weapon read something like Paul Ewald's book on 'The Evolution of Infectious Disease' or this article. Better yet, don't.

Ethnicity specific pathogens

[No Tears In The End]

Two or three years ago, Israel admitted to working on biological agents that would target Iraqi people because of some unique genetic trait.

I don't know how much progress they made, or even if they are still trying but the work was being done.

Shhhh!!!

[supabeast!]

From the story- "The White House official says she'd like to see scientists police themselves better regarding what they publish and with whom they share data." Of course. Keep it all wrapped up. Leave it to the government to think of secrecy as an answer.

Re:Life adapts

[fleener]

but there would still be some people immune to it.

You mean you hope there would be some people immune to it. There are no guarantees.

We're already there

[eXtro]

A little premature reading about this today, but give it a few years... Reading about nuclear weapons in 1940 would have seemed outrageous too.

A little premature? Perhaps Michael should try paying attention to the news some time. Not too long ago some Australian scientists were experimenting with genetic modifications in an attempt to block fertility in mice. They were using small pox virus and accidently created a super virulent strain of the virus. It was only harmful to mice, fortunately for humans.

Re:We're already there

[Speare]

I think the posting is about using genetically modified organisms as weapons. It's like throwing a resource-hungry but unusuable corn seeds on a pasture, because it will ruin our crops. Why use a naturally-occurring parasite like kudzu when you can slip it in secretly?

Super-infections are almost assuredly available in today's weapons arsenal, even if our current treaties may forbid their use. Stephen King's "The Stand" is a piece of fiction from about 1988(?), and describes what effect a super influenza could do to the world population. Regular anthrax is a likely real weapon, since the effects are so undetectable or similar to the common cold, up until sudden death a few days later.

Eradicating certain plants can be just as devastating. Kudzu has been mentioned here already, and California is realizing that the common but non-native eucalyptus tree is a pest that vigorously reduces biodiversity wherever it's been planted. GM crops tend to look like regular crops, but could affect the viability of the food just as undetectably as anthrax infects people. Plant and leave. In a few months, the victim has absolutely no harvest, or worse, has a field that cannot be reused for some time.

Here is the thing to do...

[Anonymous Coward]

Genetically combine the best Thai cannabis with Kudzu and unleash it on the world! Bonus!!! It is possible, and while we are at this task, let us make this cannakudzu bear strawberries and grapes too!

GM Weapons

[sharkey]

What would that be? A LeSabre dropped from a plane? A Taurus launched by a large catapult?

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Is everyone asleep at the wheel?

[joq]

Government has been doing things like this for years via most of their wars. Happened in Bosnia where a lot of their water is contaminated, and their food crops are expected to suffer unless the US intervenes to pay for the clean ups. Happened in Columbia too with their (*cough*bullshit*cough*) war on drugs.

The application of a second "Agent Orange" over the Colombian Amazon, has caused tremendous alarm among international environmentalists and inhabitants of the region. But residents of Southern Colombia and the Ecuadorian border region of Sucumbios are now expecting a new and even greater threat to their health and their ecosystem - the release of a biological control that environmental activists are referring to as "Agent Green".

Fusarium Oxysporum is a fungus native to temperate and tropical zones. In its natural state it is well-known as a plant pathogen that affects the roots and vacular systems of a variety of cultivated plants, causing disintegration of cells leading to withering, rot and death. Doctor David C. Sands, a plant pathologist at the University of Montana and one of the chief researchers on Fusarium Oxysporyum (FO) calls it "an Attila the Hun disease," noting that there are strains of fusarium for virtually every cultivated plant and many wild ones. Some species of fusarium have also been known to cause illness in humans, especially those with depressed immunity from cancer or HIV-AIDS.

Read on

There are many instances of these outbreaks of shit going on in everyday life except their quickly hushed, or many people just don't have a strong enough voice to be heard.

A third agreement breached by this joint policy of the U.S. and Colombia is the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, signed by 157 nations during the historic meeting in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. Article 3 of this convention confirms "the obligation to ensure that activities carried out within the jurisdiction of a state or under its control do not threaten the ecological balance within other states." Article 8 binds member parties to "Promote the protection of ecosystems and natural habitats without introducing exotic species that could threaten ecosystems, habitats or species." Article 14c states that "Each member nation will promote the notification and exchange of information regarding activities in its jurisdiction which could foreseeably have adverse effects on the biodiversity of another state, and will notify immediately in case of the emergence in its jurisdiction or control of imminent dangers for biodiversity under the jurisdiction of other states."

That is to say, both Colombia and the U.S. are engaged in chemical and biological warfare in violation of international law and their own
constitutions.

According to the July 6 New York Times report ("Fungus Considered as a Tool to Kill Coca in Colombia"), lawyers at the White House and the State Department spent years debating whether or not the use of Fusarium Oxysporyum violated international conventions on biological warfare. They came to the conclusion that international law would not be violated if Colombia made its own decision to test or use the fungus. One U.S. intelligence official who maintains a stance against the fungus is quoted by the New York Times as saying, "I dont support using a product on a bunch of Colombian peasants that you wouldnt use against a bunch of rednecks growing marijuana in Kentucky. And there is definitely less than unanimous support for this in Colombia."

Genetic targets gone wrong

[PYves]

It's pretty intense that they can target you directly according to how your genes are. I wonder how accurate you could be, especially since all of our genes are pretty much the same.. I can see some disturbing results where attempts to assassinate someone specific person through a supposedly "individual" virus ends up killing everyone with a similar gene sequence.

2002 -"George W. Bush dies of unknown causes"

2017 -"SAT scores at record highs!"

(ok ok I'm just kidding about W.)

-PYves