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Ask HN: Can Crispr Be Used as Weapon of Mass Destruction?

1 points by patientplatypus ↗ HN
So...I worry a lot. One of the things I worry about it is that CRISPR could be used a super weapon.

CRISPR (https://www.livescience.com/58790-crispr-explained.html) allows the "cut and paste" editing of the genome by packaging the cut and paste code in a virus that then is introduced to the host. The virus then alters the RNA/DNA after finding a match for the preprogrammed location it is to cut and insert DNA.

I worry that a state or non-state actor may find the genetic signature for an adversarial ethnic group and target that group using a genetic virus using CRISPR. So for example, the mechanism for infection could be a cold virus. The virus would simply cause the common cold in any non-adversarial group. If the virus detects that the host belongs to the adversarial group via some genetic marker it could do all sorts of terrible things to the genetic makeup of the host like cause sterilization, mess with hormone production, alter mechanisms that affect impulse control etc.

What worries me for this is that the weapon could be deployed and it would be impossible to know who deployed the weapon. A scientist could simply infect himself and walk through a busy thorough fair.

For all we know this has already happened.

Are my fears overblown or am I not appropriately understanding the science? Is anyone working on a counter to this?

3 comments

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geongeorgek
Even if it can be used is it any worse than existing viruses?
rolph
it is worse in the sense that it can be directed for the purpose of pathogenicity.

natural virii have little benefit from killing the host, as transmission from live host to new host occurs best when the host is minimally inconvenienced.

Highly lethal virus kills hosts before they can contact other prospective hosts, and thus fare less well than a virus that gives you the sniffles, or makes you feel a bit tired.

with all this, Biowarfare is considered to be tacticly deficient, as there is reduced control, indiscriminate effect [in the present context] and drift of properties, as biological entities, change to accentuate survival in thier surroundings.

rolph
Bioweapons were possible and extant before CrSPR, even the ethnic targeting. CrSPR as a phenomenon has been known for 20years, it was talked about in the lab in a what if? steven king tone of voice. Only recently has someone chosen to start working it as a manipiulation technique. CrSPR is as powerful a discovery as the fusion bomb, and both hazards are compounded by occulted aspects. We are still just scratching the surface as far as understanding molecular genetics in vitro let alone in vivo. we are struggling to get beyond the standard model of physics and understand sub atomic structure, and high energy physics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR