United States scientists are working on a project that seeks to alter the DNA of crops, in order to protect them against drought, frost or other inclement weather, even “foreign threats”, these changes propagate through insects genetically, however, scientists warn that this research could become an uncontrolled biological weapon. The project was announced in 2016 and is carried out by the Agency of Defense (DARPA, for its acronym in English), which belongs to the United States Department of Defense Advanced research projects. It is called Insect Allies. Several scientists, including Derek Caetano-Anolles, have spoken out against considering its potential use as a biological weapon.
The Max Planch Institute of evolutionary biology scientist and several European colleagues have published an article in the journal Science, about the risks of this project from the DARPA program for his involvement as a possible biological weapon.
Scientists warn that harvests of enemies could attack with this weapon.
This publication is part of a series of articles that seek to stop and dismantle the DARPA research until they succeed. Other research that involves genetically modified insects and can be turned into a biological weapon, is carried out at the University of Pennsylvania, she intends to use the virus Begonovirus to make the plants more resistant to the weather, neutralising the viral load and then add a plant gene.
“What worries us is that Insect Allies technology can very easily be converted into a weapon. Worse yet, can be done in a way extremely covert and very difficult to track: insects can be designed to infect an enemy crops, plants killing or sterilizing their seeds and no one you learn what had happened to the next campaign”, explains Caetano-Anolle”
in this note: weapon biological research DARPA Insect Allies
