Fight genetic weapons, British doctors urge
RTna 01.07.97 19:00
Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or
redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written
consent of Reuters Ltd.
By Maggie Fox
LONDON (Reuter) - Gene therapy could be twisted into terrifying
genetic weapons that target and destroy ethnic groups, British
doctors warned Tuesday.
The British Medical Association (BMA) is so worried by the
possibility that it has commissioned a team of geneticists,
biologists, lawyers and warfare experts to see if the technology
is possible, and if so, to ban it.
"It is a particularly horrifying thought," said Dr
Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics for the BMA, who
started the study.
"If you were a dictator somewhere in the world and you
wanted to get rid of a group of people in your population who
were opposing you -- whether you are talking about Hutus and
Tutsis in Rwanda, Bosnian Serbs or 1930s Germany -- you could use
this," she added.
Gene therapy homes in on genes that certain people have that are
different and can cause disease. For example, people with cystic
fibrosis have easily identified mutations, as do some sufferers
of breast cancer.
New genes, or therapeutic proteins, can be delivered using
engineered DNA -- the basic genetic building material.
Nathanson said this could be twisted.
"If we can target people to have a therapeutic effect then
maybe you could put something in that is dangerous," she
said in a telephone interview.
Race war would not be possible -- races are too genetically
diverse and what people recognize as "race" has little
genetic basis.
"You are looking for what in Scotland would be a clan or in
Africa a tribe," Nathanson said. "It's a family
grouping where one would expect to see a genetic
similarity."
Genes targeted by such weapons could control a person's
appearance -- height or hair color -- or how their bodies process
certain drugs.
"If that is the case, and it is likely to be the case, then
it is possible to say we may have a weapon which was a virus or a
chemical compound which has a genetic targeting component,"
Nathanson said.
"We have to recognize that there is a potential for weapons
with a fair degree of selectivity and extraordinary
awfulness."
Such compounds could be delivered as a gas or spray, or put into
the water supply. They could kill, make people infertile or cause
the birth of deformed children.
"It would probably not be 100 percent effective but I've
never really come across a dictator who seemed terribly concerned
about losing some of their own population," she said.
"We are doing the study at the moment using as many lawyers
and other experts as we can to find out whether we think it is
feasible," said Nathanson, who presented her fears to the
BMA's annual meeting in Edinburgh.
"If we do think such weapons are feasible, and so far we
haven't heard anything that we think means they wouldn't be, a
ban that works would be needed," Nathanson said.
"It would need international collaboration and
cooperation."
But Nathanson said she feared that, if such weapons were ever
developed, there would be no way to ban them. For example,
landmines were proving hard to ban because so many companies and
governments earned money from their sale.
"One of the things we have to learn is not to wait until the
technology has been learned and dispersed around the world before
we ban them."
REUTER