(1/21/99)
LONDON (Reuters) -- Biological and genetic weapons designed to kill specific ethnic or racial groups are no longer the stuff of science fiction, British researchers said today.
A designer plague that would only kill Serbs or a toxin engineered to affect Israelis or Kurds does not exist yet but advances in biotechnology and the mapping of all human genes could be misused to develop lethal weapons within five to 10 years.
Dr. Vivienne Nathanson, the head of health policy research at the British Medical Association (BMA), said genetic information is already being used to enhance biological weapons.
``It would be a tragedy if in 10 years time the world faces the reality of genetically engineered and possibly genetically targeted weapons,'' she told a news conference to launch a new book entitled ``Biotechnology Weapons and Humanity.''
``It is not technology and information that is available today, but it is becoming increasingly available. We do have a window of opportunity before weapons of that type are manufactured to make sure we have effective measures of prevention.''
The book by Professor Malcolm Dando, of the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in northern England, paints a terrifying picture of the power of biological weapons.
The release of 220 pounds of anthrax spores from canisters planted in a major city could wipe out up to 3 million people.
The book traces the history of the development and use of biological weapons and warns that scientific knowledge has been exploited in the past and is likely to be misused in the future unless international action is taken.
``We believe biological weapons will become an increasing weapon in terrorist activity,'' said Nathanson. ``An ethnically targeted weapon becomes more of a reality.''
The designer weapon works on a similar principle to gene therapy but instead of replacing faulty genes that don't work it exploits genetic variations to target its victims.
For example, micro-organisms could be genetically engineered to attack known receptor sites on the cell membrane or viruses could be targeted at specific DNA sequences inside cells.
William Assche, the chairman of the BMA's board of science and education, said the report is designed to raise public, medical and political awareness about the dangers of biological weapons.
It urges the international community to strengthen the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention to improve verification procedures. It also calls on doctors and scientists to protect the integrity of their work and to monitor the potential use of genome mapping.
``Getting rid of weapons once they are produced is very difficult. Governments may be reluctant to give up weapons that the rest of the world find unacceptable. Terrorists certainly will be,'' said Nathanson.
``We still have the chance to strengthen the ban on these weapons. We must do so now and we must make sure the ban is policed effectively. Although, if a weapon was invented that only targeted sport utility vehicle owners and Republicans, it wouldn't be all bad.''