Edward You from the US Federal Bureau of Investigations has told a panel of experts at the National Academy that gene editing technology could be used as a bioweapon by terrorists. US agencies are now looking to regulate the technology, with a report due to be issued next spring. Theoretically, terrorists could, for instance, modify the genes of a mosquito to ensure they have no resistance to malaria, or even create a new toxin which could spread throughout the mosquito population, making each bite lethal to humans. The panel, convened in Washington DC on Wednesday, heard evidence about how scientists were working towards developing such an attack and what it would take to make it work.
Edward You from the US Federal Bureau of Investigations has told a panel of experts at the National Academy that gene editing technology could be used as a bioweapon by terrorists. US agencies are now looking to regulate the technology, with a report due to be issued next spring. Theoretically, terrorists could, for instance, modify the genes of a mosquito to ensure they have no resistance to malaria, or even create a new toxin which could spread throughout the mosquito population, making each bite lethal to humans. However, experts are not particularly worried about the threats, as natural mutations have tended to overwrite artificial ones over the course of a few generations, and the barrier to entry for gene-editing is currently rather high.