Advances in Bio-weaponry

kjh1 writes "Technology Review is running an eye-opening article on how biotechnology has advanced to the point where producing bio-weapons that were once only possible with the backing of governments with enormous resources is now possible with equipment purchased off eBay. You can now purchase a mini-lab of equipment for less than $10,000. The writer also interviewed a former Soviet bioweaponeer, Serguei Popov, who worked at the Biopreparat, the Soviet agency that secretly developed biological weapons. Popov has since moved to the US and provided a great deal of information on the types of weapons the Soviets were developing."

Re:worried?

[Anonymous Coward]

However, if they had a single person who could have gone to Africa and come in contact with an Ebola patient, they could have become a carrier and brought it back with them.

Yes, the person would have to be willing to die, but there have been many cults and religions that have members willing to do that. Then, they just do what carriers do and try to infect as many people as possible. Maybe they can get a job at a restaurant and make sure they don't wash their hands. If it is a restaurant in an airport, that makes it even better. (Worse from my perspective, but from their perspective, better).

For $1 billion I bet they could hire people willing to do it on the 10% chance they'll live and get the cash. They could also fund an aid effort to get doctors (and their agent) to the site of an outbreak.

Heck, if you have a few hundred followers, have them all go out and contract HIV (find infected people at support groups). Then send them to have sex as many times as they can. It might not be the fastest way, but if you selectively target sexully active groups, like college students, it should spread quite nicely, and it will take months before it is discoverd.

While this really isn't an "advance" in bio-weaponry, it illustrates that the advanced way isn't always the only way.

Re:Move Along

[AoT]

My roommate genetically altered a virus in her bio class the other day.

Keep in mind that this was a beginning bio class, at a junior college.

It's easy, it doesn't take a whole ton of education.

The real threat is lower tech

[Baldrson]

The threat from modern DNA synthesizers isn't the real threat. Those synthesizers do automate the process of DNA synthesis. However, the Russian bioweapons program did the same thing a long time before by just throwing more technicians at the problem. Using nothing but hard working but low-skilled lab techs with primitive equipment they were able to engineer bacteria that stimulated the immune system of victims to attack their own nervous system. This could create autoimmune diseases -- a very broad range of diseases including multiple sclerosis and possibly even autism [google.com].

Re:Me thinks thou doth protest too much...

[Lord Kano]

There's no big conspiracy. I just have a really annoying girlfriend.

You made a good run of it, but the ruse is over.

LK

Re:Bill Joy and others saw this years ago

[Metex]

why aren't the intelligent, well-educated, technically minded of the world actually taking issues like this seriously, and doing something about it?

I think of two reasons when asked this question:
1) I have to spend, minimum 8+ years doing focused study in one area of knowledge just to get to the fringes of the body of knowledge in which I will be developing technology in.
2) I have to take all of those 8 years of knowledge condense it into a catch phrase of 2-10 words which explains the problem to people not in my field.

Part 2 is the killer. How am I going to explain a problem when I can't go 2 words without saying By X s postulate, or according to Ys theorem or Zs experiment? Also I need to make sure I take into account 1000 people using my work as reference and building upon it? The nuclear bomb wasn't made by 1 scientist in was made by thousands.

The way intelligent, well-educated, technically minded people end up explaining things to people who make the decisions is try to find the most simplest explanation possible that maybe gets 70% of the problems across. Take 'Global Warming' sounds kind of bad and it tells you the earth is heating up. But actually we are trapping more energy in our atmosphere so a more accurate description is 'Global Energy Increase' which unfortunately sounds somewhat positive. This is a tad more accurate since instead of the earth just heating up it also takes into account places getting much colder then usual (refrigerators need energy to run). We can continually expand it until it turns into a 500 page report, but no one will remember why we are concerned about the original problem.

Unfortunately allot of stuff can't be reduced to that level so it gets swept under the carpet.

Re:Oh goody

[Cicero382]

Half right.

We're a small biotech company with capabilities described (DNA sequencers, centrifuges et al). And, I suppose, if we *really* wanted to put the time and effort into it, we *could* produce something nasty - but not easily. And, unless you have the equivalent of a PhD in biochemistry and a lot of experience, you're onto a non-starter. So knocking up the Satan Bug in your garage just isn't on.

But, you're spot on about the delivery systems. For example, the Japanese tried to build a strong bioweapon capability during WWII. Even with the resources they deployed (including human experimentation) they couldn't get it to work. True, technology is much more advanced these days, but the difficulties remain (TG).

As an aside - quite a lot of our kit *did* come from LabX.

DISCLAIMER: IAABC (I *am* a biochemist)