{"id":383307,"date":"2018-11-02T06:41:40","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T05:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/prison-planet-com-genetically-engineered-viruses-may-become-the-next-generation-of-warfare\/"},"modified":"2018-11-02T06:41:40","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T05:41:40","slug":"prison-planet-com-genetically-engineered-viruses-may-become-the-next-generation-of-warfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/prison-planet-com-genetically-engineered-viruses-may-become-the-next-generation-of-warfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Prison Planet.com \u00bb Genetically engineered viruses may become the next generation of warfare"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>      <!-- START CONTENT --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/op-ed\/442828-genetic-engineering-next-warfare\/\"><strong>RT<\/strong><\/a><br \/>November 1, 2018<\/p>\n<p><strong>Many technologies have dual use potential and can be applied to either civilian or defense projects, depending on the intent of those in charge.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>German rocket <a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2012\/02\/from-v-2-rocket-to-moon-landing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">technology<\/a> led to the creation of V2 ballistic missiles in WW2 and later enabled the US to launch space exploration missions in the latter half of the 20th century. The technology also helped the US develop its own ballistic missile program.<\/p>\n<p>Nowadays, US scientists at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are working on a project called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.darpa.mil\/program\/insect-allies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Insect Allies<\/a> which will use insects to infect crops with genetically modified viruses that edit the crops\u2019 genetic profile to make them more resilient against disease, as well as natural and manufactured threats to the food supply. It is not clear how the insects\u2019 flight paths would be controlled to ensure they only infect designated targets.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.darpa.mil\/about-us\/about-darpa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DARPA<\/a> is administered by the US Department of Defense and was founded after the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957. The agency published a communiqu\u00e9 asserting that the program has no sinister intentions and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.darpa.mil\/attachments\/DARPA%20Response%20to%20Science%20Opinion%20Piece%20-%20Oct%204%202018.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">seeks<\/a> to <em>\u201cprovide new capabilities to protect the United States, specifically the ability to respond rapidly to threats to the food supply\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>DARPA provided reassurances after German and French scientists voiced questions and concerns about the program\u2019s efficacy earlier this month and suggested that it <a href=\"http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/362\/6410\/35\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">could<\/a> be <em>\u201cwidely perceived as an effort to develop biological agents for hostile purposes and their means of delivery, which\u2014if true\u2014would constitute a breach of the Biological Weapons Convention\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If the know-how and means exist to transmit genetic viruses that supposedly create beneficial crop mutations, the opposite will also be possible \u2013 using insects to deliver gene editing viruses that destroy crops, ruin harvests and adversely affect the wider ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/usa\/440367-darpa-insect-allies-bioweapon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Another<\/a> project&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.prisonplanet.com\/genetically-engineered-viruses-may-become-the-next-generation-of-warfare.html\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RTNovember 1, 2018 Many technologies have dual use potential and can be applied to either civilian or defense projects, depending on the intent of those in charge. German rocket technology led to the creation of V2 ballistic missiles in WW2 and later enabled the US to launch space exploration missions in the latter half of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-383307","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}