Top U.S. Intelligence Official Calls Gene Editing a WMD Threat
Source: MIT Technology Review
Easy to use. Hard to control. The intelligence community now sees CRISPR as a threat to national safety.
Genome editing is a weapon of mass destruction.
Thats according to James Clapper, U.S. director of national intelligence, who on Tuesday, in the annual worldwide threat assessment report of the U.S. intelligence community, added gene editing to a list of threats posed by weapons of mass destruction and proliferation.
Gene editing refers to several novel ways to alter the DNA inside living cells. The most popular method, CRISPR, has been revolutionizing scientific research, leading to novel animals and crops, and is likely to power a new generation of gene treatments for serious diseases (see Everything You Need to Know About CRISPRs Monster Year).
It is gene editings relative ease of use that worries the U.S. intelligence community, according to the assessment. Given the broad distribution, low cost, and accelerated pace of development of this dual-use technology, its deliberate or unintentional misuse might lead to far-reaching economic and national security implications, the report said.
The choice by the U.S. spy chief to call out gene editing as a potential weapon of mass destruction, or WMD, surprised some experts. It was the only biotechnology appearing in a tally of six more conventional threats, like North Koreas suspected nuclear detonation on January 6, Syrias undeclared chemical weapons, and new Russian cruise missiles that might violate an international treaty.
<snip>
Read more: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/600774/top-us-intelligence-official-calls-gene-editing-a-wmd-threat/
bananas
(27,509 posts)jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)jtuck004
(15,882 posts)neat little things with chemistry.
Extract DNA at home...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=sxd1IKNBnfQ
houston16revival
(953 posts)Just ask JEB!
That's how he's going to solve global warming.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)bananas
(27,509 posts)<snip>
"... we are also concerned about the chance of misutilization. We could have an accident occur with gene editing that is catastrophic, since the genome is the very essence of life.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)burning up the earth we live on.
We are really bad at concerning ourselves with the real threats.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Let's fuck around with extremely powerful things that we hardly understand at all.
Kip Humphrey
(4,753 posts)zika virus.
it may be time boys & girls.
NickB79
(19,246 posts)The exact reason Zika increases the risk of microcephaly in children hasn't been figured out yet, but it should be noted that other viruses, such as German measles and even chickenpox, have been known to cause microcephaly in babies as well: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/proving-zika-virus-causes-microcephaly
BadgerKid
(4,552 posts)then look no further than retroviruses, e.g., HIV.
NickB79
(19,246 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)SansACause
(520 posts)The title is a little misleading. It's not gene editing, but rather using gene editing to create a new pathogenic organism.
Given that nature has had 3.5 billion years of biological warfare experience, I'm not particularly worried.