"Molecular biology and genetic engineering are still in their infancy, and more technical possibilities will arise in the years to come—for military abuse too (Fraser & Dando, 2001). More efficient classical biowarfare agents will probably have only a marginal role, even if the genetically engineered 'superbug' is still routinely featured in newspaper reports. More likely and more alarming are weapons for new types of conflicts and warfare scenarios, namely low-intensity warfare or secret operations, for economic warfare or for sabotage activities. To prevent the hostile exploitation of biology now and forever, a bundle of measures must be taken, from strengthening the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention to building an awareness in the scientific community about the possibilities and dangers of abuse. Any kind of biotechnological or biomedical research, development or production must be performed in an internationally transparent and controlled manner. In cases in which military abuse seems to be imminent and likely, alternative ways to pursue the same research goal have to be developed. Furthermore, as we mentioned above with regard to the smallpox genome sequence, it might also be necessary to apply restrictions to certain research and/or publications."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Jan van Aken and Edward Hammond, “Genetic engineering and biological weapons“, EMBO Rep. 2003 Jun; 4(Suppl 1): S57–S60.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Genetic_engineering
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Genetic engineering
29 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Genetic engineering →
Related Quotes
"Hannah Devlin: In 2015, you called for a moratorium on the clinical use of gene editing. Where do you stand on using …"
"The genetic material for modification may be either derived from natural organisms using standard recombinant DNA tec…"
"Hannah Devlin: In your book you describe a nightmare you had involving Hitler wearing a pig mask, asking to learn mor…"
"Snake: I thought using genetically modified soldiers was prohibited by international law."
"Development of novel (i.e., not known to be naturally-occurring) GMOs exhibiting unique designer characteristics requ…"
"Animals tell us something. If the animals have suffered this way [from GMOs], potentially for us, let’s listen to wha…"
"It is difficult to make a general judgement about genetic modification (GM), whether vegetable or animal, medical or …"
"You can stop splitting the atom; you can stop visiting the moon; you can stop using aerosols; you may even decide not…"
"So you did do it. You amalgamated one of Godzilla's cells together with the plant's cells. Are you proud of this? Wha…"
"When scientists began creating adenoviral vectors in the 1980s, most worked with a particular kind of adenovirus call…"