Scientists Warn That Terrorists Could Release a Horrifying Virus
From futurism.com
2022-02-15 16:21:54
Victor Tangermann
Excerpt:
In her new book “The Genesis Machine,” futurist and founder of the Future Today Institute Amy Webb warns that terrorists could create synthesized viruses in a lab and use them for nefarious purposes.
Scientists have managed to replicate potentially harmful viruses like the poliovirus and smallpox before. It’s a contentious issue: some say the work could lead to scientific breakthroughs, but to others it amounts to government-funded saber-rattling.
In an excerpt from the book published this week by The Atlantic, Webb points out that in 2011, Erasmus Medical Center virologist Ron Fouchier was able to change the DNA of the H5N1 bird flu virus to make it transmissible from bird to humans and from human to human.
Fouchier’s research was funded by the US government, according to Webb, but due to the sheer risks involved, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity asked academic journals to redact portions of Fouchier’s paper to ensure details didn’t end up in the wrong hands.
