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1900 GMT, 10 January 2001
New Scientist Online News
Killer virus: An engineered mouse virus leaves us one step
away from the ultimate bioweapon
Rachel Nowak, Melbourne
A virus that kills every one of its victims, by wiping out part of
their immune system, has been accidentally created by an
Australian research team. The virus, a modified mousepox,
does not affect humans, but it is closely related to smallpox,
raising fears that the technology could be used in biowarfare.
The discovery highlights a growing problem. How do you stop
terrorists taking legitimate research and adapting it for their
own nefarious purposes?
The Australian researchers had no intention of producing a
killer virus. They were merely trying to make a mouse
contraceptive vaccine for pest control. "But it's a good way to
show how to alter smallpox to make it more virulent," says Ken
Alibek, former second-in-command of the civilian branch of the
Soviet germ-warfare programme.
Mousepox normally causes only mild symptoms in the type of
mice used in the study, but with the IL-4 gene added it wiped
out all the animals in nine days. "It would be safe to assume
that if some idiot did put human IL-4 into human smallpox
they'd increase the lethality quite dramatically," says Jackson.
"Seeing the consequences of what happened in the mice, I
wouldn't be the one who'd want to do the experiment."
To make matters worse, the engineered virus also appears
unnaturally resistant to attempts to vaccinate the mice. A
vaccine that would normally protect mouse strains that are
susceptible to the virus only worked in half the mice exposed
to the killer version. "It's surprising how very, very bad the
virus is," says Ann Hill, a vaccine researcher from Oregon
Health Sciences University in Portland. If bioterrorists created
a human version of the virus, vaccination programmes would
be of limited use.
Alibek, who now works on developing novel treatments for anthrax
for the defence contractor Hadron in Virginia, says this highlights
the drawback of working on vaccines against bioweapons
rather than treatments. "I'd say any vaccine could be overcome
by one or another genetically engineered virus or bacterium," he says.
Is it possible that research into new vaccines against cancer
and other diseases could inadvertently create lethal human
viruses? Many of the most promising modern vaccines depend
on viruses to transport genes into the body, and contain
genes that directly alter the immune response. But researchers
have not been too concerned because the evidence until now
suggested that changes in the genetic make-up of viruses
invariably makes them less virulent, not more. One way to
reduce the risk, says Gary Nabel of the National Institutes of
Health, is to use only viruses that cannot replicate. "There are
some replication-competent [viral vaccines] around, but there
is increasing concern about their use," he says.
Defence experts are also worried about preserving the freedom
to publish medical findings while trying to stop the information
falling into the wrong hands. According to D. A. Henderson, a
former US presidential adviser, and director of the Center for
Civilian Biodefense Studies at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, what are effectively blueprints for making
microorganisms more harmful regularly appear in unclassified
journals. "I can't for the life of me figure out how we are going
to deal with this," he says.
 Genetic
Engineering and Its Dangers
Compiled by Professor Ron Epstein
| I originally constructed this web site
primarily for the benefit of the students in my classes at San Francisco
State University, from which I am now retired. (I am currently a
research professor at the Institute for World Religions in Berkeley,
California.) I am leaving the site online in the hope that people will
still find it to be useful. All of the material is copyrighted.
Permission is granted for individual, single copy, personal use only.
Please send suggestions, corrections, broken links, and inquiries about
other use of the materials to me at
epstein@sfsu.edu.
|
TENTH ANNIVERSARY YEAR
SITE FOUNDED IN 1996
ESSAYS ABOUT GENETIC ENGINEERING
"What is Genetic Engineering?" by Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher
"The Rest Of
The Story Behind Genetic Engineering: An Interview with Brian Tokar" by Mark
Oshinskie
"The Biotech
Century: Playing Ecological Roulette with Mother Nature's Designs" by Jeremy
Rifkin
"The Biotech
Century - A Second Opinion : The Marriage of the Genetic Sciences and the
Technologies Reshaping Our World" by Jeremy Rifkin
"PR for the
'Book of Life'" by Jackie Stevens
"Synthetic
Life" by W. Wayt Gibbs 
"Unraveling the DNA Myth: The Spurious Foundation of Genetic Engineering" by
Barry Commoner
"Data Stored
in Multiplying Bacteria" by Natasha McDowell
"Genetic Copy of Cat Not a Copycat after All" by Kristen Hays
GM Microbes
Invade North America
"Mice 'make
human proteins in semen'" by Dr David Whitehouse
"Mice
produce sperm from monkeys" by Dr David Whitehouse
"Killer
virus: An engineered mouse virus leaves us one step away from the ultimate
bioweapon" by
Rachel Nowak
"Rebellious Bodies Dim the Glow of `Natural' Biotech Drugs" by Andrew Pollack
"Klebsiella planticola--The Gene-Altered Monster That Almost Got Away" by Elaine
Ingham
"Biohazards:
The Next Generation?" by Brian Tokar
"Biotech
at 25--Too Soon to Celebrate"
"GM Pigs are
Both Meat and Veg" by Emma Young
"In
Experiment, Mammal Cells Produce Silk Like a Spider's" by Kenneth Chang
"Xenotransplantation: How Bad Science and Big Business Put the World at Risk
from
Viral Pandemics" by Mae-Wan Ho and Joe Cummins
Frontline:
Organ Farm
"Scientists Are
Starting to Add Letters to Life's Alphabet"
by Andrew
Pollack
"Splicing the Sting
Out of Bugs" by Aaron Zitner
"Go-ahead
for GM insect release" by Helen Briggs.
"GM Trees Threaten
the Global Environment"
"BODY AND
SOUL: The Price of Biotech (Part One)" by Philip L. Bereano
"Patent Pending:
THE RACE TO OWN DNA (Part Two)" by Philip L. Bereano
"Bioprospecting or
Biopiracy? The Hunt for Genetic Riches in the Developing World" Utne Reader
"Transplantation Through a Glass Darkly" by James Lindemann Nelson
"The Selfish
Commercial Gene" by L R B Mann
Ethical and Religious Questions
"Pope Expresses
Opposition to GMOs, Cites Need for 'the Respect of Nature'"
"Stem Cell
Mixing May Form a Human-Mouse Hybrid" by Nicholas Wade
"Synthetic
life: Genome team faces ethical questions in its quest to use $3 million grant
from Energy Department to create microbe" by Keay Davidson
"Patented
Genes: An Ethical Appraisal" by Mark Sagoff
"Religion
and Measure H" by Ron Epstein
"Some Common Sense about Measure H" by Ron Epstein
"Buddhism and
Measure H: Banning the Growing and Raising of Genetically Modified Organisms in
Mendocino County." by Ron Epstein
"Redesigning the
World: Ethical Questions about Genetic Engineering" by Ron Epstein
"Genetic
Engineering: A Buddhist Assessment" by Ron Epstein
"Ethical Dangers of Genetic
Engineering." by Ron Epstein
"Ethical and Spiritual Issues in Genetic Engineering" by Ron Epstein
"Buddhism and Biotechnology" by Ron Epstein
"Bioethics -A
Third World Issue" by Dr Vandana Shiva
"Genetic Trespassing and Environmental Ethics" by Dr. Mira Fong
"On Genetic
Engineering" by Yifei Zhu, Ph.D.
Technical Information
"Horizontal Gene Transfer – The Hidden Hazards of Genetic Engineering" by
Mae-Wan Ho, Ph.D.
"Horizontal Gene Transfer - New Evidence" by Mae Wan Ho, Ph.D.
"The Unholy Alliance" by Mae-Wan Ho, Ph.D.
"Transgenic Transgression of Species Integrity and Species Boundaries" by
Mae-Wan Ho, Ph.D.
"The Genetic
Engineering Debate" (v0.32) compiled by Roberto Verzola
GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PLANTS AND FOOD
True
Food Shopping List: How to Avoid Genetically Engineered Food
5
reasons to keep Britain [and the rest of the world] GM-free
"WHY CONCERNS ABOUT HEALTH RISKS OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOOD ARE
SCIENTIFICALLY JUSTIFIED" by Steven M. Druker
"A GE
BACTERIUM THAT COULD HAVE KILLED ALL PLANTS: Dr. Elaine Ingham's Testimony"
Genetically
engineered trees quietly sprouting
New life for
redwood harvesting [GMO Redwoods]
A BRIGHT
FUTURE FOR CROPS CONVERTED INTO PLASTIC?
FAO report reveals
GM crops not needed to feed the world
"No Foolproof
Way Is Seen to Contain Altered Genes" by Andrew Pollack
"Super Organics" by Richard Manning
"GM TRIALS
TO FIND MEDICINE RAISE NEW ETHICAL FEARS; HUMAN GENE CROP FURY" by JOHN INGHAM
AND TOBY MOORE
"GOLDEN GENES AND WORLD HUNGER: LET THEM EAT TRANSGENIC RICE?" by Craig Holdrege
and Steve Talbott
"As
Biotech Crops Multiply, Consumers Get Little Choice" by David Barboza
"Scientists Admit Frankencrops Pollution is Inevitable" by Brian Tokar
"Genetically-Modified Superweeds 'Not Uncommon'" by James Randerson
"Pharm Crops - A
Food Accident Waiting to Happen"
"GM Potatoes Deter One Pest But Attract Another"
"Sterile
Harvest: New Crop of Terminator Patents Threatens Food Sovereignty"
"Biotechnology in Crops: Issues for the Developing World" compiled by Laura
Spinney
"GM
Crop DNA Found in Human Gut Bugs" by Andy Coghlin
"Genetically Modified Foods: Are They a Risk to Human/Animal Health?" By Arpad
Pusztai, Ph.D.
"Transgenic DNA introgressed into traditional maize landraces in Oaxaca, Mexico"
by David Quist and Ignacio H. Chapela
"Thousands of Field
Tests of GE Crops Across the U.S."
"Crop pollen
spreads further than expected"
"50
Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Foods" by Nathan Batalion
Worldwide
Initiatives Against GMOs
"Biotech--The Basics" by Rachel Massey
"Bad Bad seeds in
court: when genetically modified plants contaminate their crops, organic farmers
fight big biotech" by Thomas Hayden
"GM corn
set to stop man spreading his seed" by Robin McKie
"GM Trials to
Find Medicine Raise New Ethical Fears; Human Gene Crop Fury" by John Ingham and
Toby Moore
"THE 'GOLDEN RICE' HOAX -When Public Relations replaces Science"
by Dr. Vandana Shiva
"NASA's
Earth plants could invade Mars" by David Perlman
USDA Says
Yes to Terminator
"How the Terminator
terminates: an explanation for the non-scientist of a remarkable patent for
killing second generation seeds of crop plants" by Martha Crouch, Ph.D.
"Hazards of
Genetically Engineered Foods and Crops: Why We Need A Global Moratorium" by
Ronnie Cummins
"Tree of Life:
Gene-altered Rubber Plants are Putting Human Proteins on Tap"
"A Bright
Future for Crops Converted into Plastic?"
"FAO
Report Reveals GM Crops Not Needed to Feed the World"
"GM Genes
'Can Spread to People and Animals'" by Geoffrey Lean, Volker Angres and Louise
Jury
"Gene-Altered Catfish Raise Environmental, Legal Issues" by Aaron Zitner
"Mutant
Food" by Kristi Coale
"FDA Documents
Show They Ignored GMO Safety Warnings From Their Own Scientists"
"World Scientists' Statement Calling for a Moratorium on GM Crops and Ban on
Patents"
"Calling for a
Moratorium on GM Crops and Ban on Patents"
"Cow's Milk to
Be Made More Human with New Zealand DNA Engineering"
"Playing God in the Garden" by Michael Pollan
"Genetically Engineered
Soya; Contaminating the Great Treasure" by Marc Lappe and Britt Bailey
"Genetically
Engineered Food--A
Serious Health Risk" by John B. Fagan, Ph.D.
"Recipe
for Disaster"
by Joel Bleifuss
"Genetic
Engineering of Food Can Spread Serious Allergies" (New York Times, March 14,
1996 )
"Ralph Nader on
Genetically Engineered Food" David Frost Special (PBS )
"Why You Should Be Concerned About Genetically Engineered Food" by Ron Epstein,
Ph.D.
"Why
Genetically Engineered
Food Should Be Labeled" by Ron Epstein, Ph.D
"Genetic
Engineering: A Major Threat to Vegetarians" by Ronald Epstein, Ph.D.
Technical Information
Death by DNA Shuffling
Ag BioTech InfoNet
"The Failings of the Principle of Substantial Equivalence" by John Fagan, Ph.D.
"A
Science-Based, Precautionary Approach to the Labeling of Genetically Engineered
Foods" by John B. Fagan, Ph.D.
"Genetic
engineering and the production of food stuffs: Biosafety Aspects" by Beatrix
Tappeser
"The
differences between conventional Bacillus thuringiensis strains and transgenic
insect resistant plants: Possible reasons for rapid resistance development and
susceptibility of nontarget organisms" by Beatrix Tappeser
"Survival, Persistence, Transfer - An Update on Current Knowledge on GMOs and
the Fate of their Recombinant DNA" by Beatrix Tappeser, Manuela Jäger, and
Claudia Eckelkamp
"The Danger of Virus-Resistant Crops" by Joe Cummins, Ph.D.
GENETIC ENGINEERING AND BIOWARFARE
Bioterror
Researchers Build a More Lethal Mousepox
"Now for GM
weapons: It's time to get tough with the biotech firms over germ warfare" by
Jeremy Rifkin
Bioterrorism issue
of Emerging Infectious Diseases (July/August, 1999, v5n4)
"The Demon
in the Freezer" by Richard Preston
"Ebola Virus Could Be
Synthesised" by Sylvia Pagàn Westphal
"Scientists
Create a Live Polio Virus" by Andrew Pollack
"Bioterror
And Biosafety" by Vandana Shiva
"US
Non-lethal Weapon Reports Suppressed" by Debora MacKenzie
"Single Gene Leap Led to Flea-Borne Transmission of Plague
Bacterium" by Laurie K. Doepel
"A
Terrifying Power" by Philip Cohen
"Prepare for
the Worst" By Rachel Nowak
"With
Biotechnology, a Potential to Harm" by Andrew Pollack
"Scientists Fear Miracle of Biotech Could Also Breed a Monster"
"Now for GM
weapons: It's time to get tough with the biotech
firms over germ warfare" by Jeremy Rifkin
Project
Censored: Human Genome Project Opens the Door to Ethnically Specific Bioweapons
"U.S. Germ
Warfare Research Pushes Treaty Limits" by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and
William J. Broad
"Secret
U.S. Germ Tests Threat to Treaty" by Roland Watson
"Battlefield
uses of biotech proposed in report to Army" by Carl T. Hall
"Deadly Viruses Mishandled, Report Finds: Federal weapons labs
may have endangered workers, public" by David Perlman.
"Killer virus:
An engineered mouse virus leaves us one step away from the ultimate bioweapon"
by Rachel Nowak
"Agricultural Biowarfare
and Bioterrorism" by Dr. Mark Wheelis.
"In
Gamble, U.S. Supports Russian Germ Warfare Scientists" by Judith Miller.
"Germ War: The US Record"
"Annals of Warfare: the Bioweaponeers" by Richard Preston
The Dangers of
Genetically Engineered Bioweapons
Biotechnology and Genetic
Engineering: Implications for the Development of New Warfare Agents
"Iranians, Bioweapons in Mind, Lure Ex-Soviet Scientists" by Judith Miller and
William J. Broad.
"Germ Weapons: In Soviet Past or in the New Russia's Future" by Judith Miller
and William J. Broad.
"Doctors play out bioterrorism scenario."
"Defector Tells of Soviet and Chinese Germ Weapons."
Frontline:
"Plague War"
GENETICALLY ENGINEERING HUMAN BEINGS
"Engineering
Humans" by Rachel Massey
"The New
Eugenics: The Case Against Genetically Modified Humans" by Marcy Darnovsky
"Scientists Raise Spectre of Gene-Modified Athletes" by James Randerson
"Gods and
Monsters: Talking apes, flying pigs, superhumans with armadillo attributes, and
other strange considerations of Dr. Stuart Newman's fight to patent a
human/animal chimera" by Mark Dowie
FRONTLINE "Organ Farm: The Risks of Xenotransplantation"
"The
Threshold Challenge of the New Human Genetic Technologies"
"Governing
the Genome"
by Ralph Brave
"The Human
Genome Map: The Death of Genetic Determinism and Beyond" by Mae-Wan Ho
Boy's DNA
implanted in rabbit eggs" By Roger Highfield
"Genetically
Altered Babies Born" by Dr. David Whitehouse
"Researchers
Claim to Create Genetically Modified Children"
"(You)2" by
Brian Alexander
"Italian, U.S. Scientists Unveil Human Cloning Effort" by Andrew Stern
"'Genie Out of
the Bottle' on Human Cloning"
"Designer People: The Human Genetic Blueprint Has Been Drafted, Offering Both
Perils and Opportunities for the Environment. The Big Question: Are We Changing
the Nature of Nature?" by Sally Deneen
"Clone scientists
can grow sperm in laboratory" by Cherry
Norton and Lois Rogers
"In The Pipeline:
Genetically Modified Humans?" by Richard Hayes
"The Politics of Genetically
Engineered Humans" by Richard Hayes
National Information
Resource on Ethics and Human Genetics
"Who Owns
Your Genes?" by Gina Kolata
"Cal.
Researchers Make 'Bionic Chip'"
"Phase II for
Human Genome Research: Human Genetic Diversity Enters the Commercial
Mainstream." RAFI Communique
"Who owns your DNA?" by Arthur Allen
Human Genome
Project Information
Engineering the Human
Germline Symposium Report
INTERNET LINKS
Ag
BioTech InfoNet
Alliance
for Bio-Integrity
Biosafety
Information Network and Advisory Service (BINAS)
Center for Bioethics: Ethics of Gene-Patenting
Center for Ethics and Toxics
(CETOS)
Center for Food Safety
Center for
Genetics and Society
Council for Responsible
Genetics
ETC
Group--biotechnology
Genetic Resources Action
International (GRAIN)
Greenpeace True Food
Network
Indigenous Peoples Council on
Biocolonialism
Institute of Science
in Society
Mothers for
Natural Law
Nochimera
Norfolk
Genetic Information Network
Organic
Consumers Association
Third World
Network
Totnes Genetics Group
US
FDA/Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition: Biotechnology
USDA Biotechnology
Information Center
SOME RECOMMENDED BOOKS ON THE DANGERS OF
GENETIC ENGINEERING
Bill McKibben. Enough: Staying Human in an
Engineered Age. NY: Henry Holt, 2003.
Jeffrey M Smith. Seeds of Deception: Exposing
Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered
Foods You're Eating. Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2003.
Marc Lappe and Britt Bailey,
eds. Engineering the Farm: The Social and Ethical Aspects of
Agricultural Biotechnology. Covelo, CA: Island Press, 2002.
Kathleen Hart. Eating in the Dark: America's
Experiment With Genetically Engineered Food.Pantheon, 2002.
Brian Tokar, ed. Redesigning Life? The
Worldwide Challenge to Genetic Engineering. McGill-Queens University Press,
2001.
Ronnie Cummins and Ben Lilliston. Genetically
Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers. Marlowe & Company,
2000.
Richard Heinberg. Cloning the Buddha: The
Moral Impact of Biotechnology. Wheaton Il: Quest, 1999.
British Medical Association. Biotechnology,
Weapons and Humanity. London: BMJ Bookshop, 1999.
Mae-Wan Ho. Genetic Engineering, Dream or
Nightmare. Gateway Books, 1998.
Marc Lappe and Britt Bailey. Against the
Grain:the Genetic Gamble with Our Food. Common
Courage Press,1998.
Jeremy Rifkin. The Biotech Century:
Harnessing the Gene and Remaking the World. Tarcher/Putnam, 1998.
Vandana Shiva. Biopiracy : The Plunder of
Nature and Knowledge. Boston: South End Press, 1997.
Ruth Hubbard and Elijah
Wald. Exploding the Gene Myth. Rev. ed. Boston: Beacon Press, 1997.
Jane Rissler and Margaret Mellon. The
Ecological Risks of Engineered Crops. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996.
Robin and Laura Ticciati. Genetically
Engineered Foods: Are They Safe? You Decide. Keats, 1998.
John Fagan. Genetic
Engineering: the Hazards, Vedic Engineering: the Solution. MIU Press, 1995.
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