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| Terror Networks |
| Urgent need to prepare for manmade virus attacks, says US government report |
| 2018-06-20 |
| [Guardian] The rapid rise of synthetic biology, a futuristic field of science that seeks to master the machinery of life, has raised the risk of a new generation of bioweapons, according a major US report into the state of the art. Advances in the area mean that scientists now have the capability to recreate dangerous viruses from scratch; make harmful bacteria more deadly; and modify common microbes so that they churn out lethal toxins once they enter the body. The three scenarios are picked out as threats of highest concern in a review of the field published on Tuesday by the US National Academy of Sciences at the request of the Department of Defense. The report was commissioned to flag up ways in which the powerful technology might be abused, and to focus minds on how best to prepare. Michael Imperiale, chair of the report committee, and professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan, said the review used only unclassified information and so has no assessment of which groups, if any, might be pursuing novel biological weapons. "We can’t say how likely any of these scenarios are," he said. "But we can talk about how feasible they are." |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #7 ...or examine exiting infected control groups such as all democrats. ...too late. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2018-06-20 10:02 |
| #6 Soft targets... Imagine if the 5 divisions(50,000) a month coming across the border were exposed before capture. Clustered at central locations for processing then distributed to holding areas across the states. Seems like the distribution/infection model has already been engaged. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2018-06-20 09:56 |
| #5 This speedy genetic tool might soon let scientists create new genes 'overnight' |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2018-06-20 09:39 |
| #4 "But we can talk about how feasible they are." ...or examine exiting infected control groups such as all democrats. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2018-06-20 08:10 |
| #3 ...The difficulty of weaponizing viruses like this is that you also have to produce a pretty-much-100%-effective vaccine for it, because bio can't be relied on not to blow back on you. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2018-06-20 08:06 |
| #2 Tom Clancy wrote one about this. Didn't turn out well. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2018-06-20 07:13 |
| #1 Virus hell, a plague. And yes, its far more 21st century than nukes. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2018-06-20 07:05 |