---Freedom includes the natural right to resist and reject any technology that endangers life.
A
passionate and dedicated scientist says, "I have a plan. By
manipulating genes, we can make invasive rodents extinct, on an island
where humans are living."
In the next fraction of a second, a flurry of questions pops up and jumps up.
The overarching question is:
Does this mean genetic manipulation can make ANY species extinct?
Welcome to the world of gene drive technology.
Here is a passage from Gene Drive Files, a vital site with an enormous amount of referenced information on the subject:
"Gene
drives are a gene-editing application that allows genetic engineers to
drive a single artificial trait through an entire population by ensuring
that all of an organism's offspring carry that trait. For example,
recent experiments are fitting mice with 'daughterless' gene drives that
will cascade through mouse populations so that only male pups are born,
ensuring that the population becomes extinct after a few generations."
"Proponents
have framed gene drives as a breakthrough tool for eradicating pests or
invasive species. However, the Gene Drive Files reveal that these
'conservation' efforts are primarily supported by military funds."
So
it appears the answer is yes. Gene drive technology could be deployed
to wipe out troublesome plant-parasites, weeds, crops, animal pests,
animals, and...humans. Mull that over with your morning coffee.
Several
years ago, the UN was considering a recommendation to call a moratorium
on the use of gene drives. Here is what the Gene Drive Files reports
about that tussle and the appearance of Bill Gates on the scene:
"Documents
received under Freedom of Information requests reveal that the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation paid a private agriculture and biotechnology
PR firm $1.6 million for activities on Gene Drives. This included
running a covert 'advocacy coalition' which appears to have intended to
skew the only UN expert process addressing gene drives..."
"Following
global calls in December 2016 from Southern countries and over 170
organizations for a UN moratorium on gene drives, emails to gene drive
advocates received under a freedom of Information request by Prickly
Research reveal that a private public affairs firm 'Emerging Ag'
received funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to co-ordinate
the 'fight back against gene drive moratorium proponents'."
There's more from the Gene Drive Files. It involves the military:
"A
trove of emails (The Gene Drive Files) from leading U.S. gene drive
researchers reveals that the U.S. Military is taking the lead in driving
forward gene drive development."
"Emails obtained through a
freedom of Information request by U.S.-based Prickly Research reveal
that the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has
given approximately $100 million for gene drive research, $35 million
more than previously reported, making them likely the largest single
funder of gene drive research on the planet. The emails also reveal that
DARPA either funds or co-ordinates with almost all major players
working on gene drive development as well as the key holders of patents
on CRISPR gene editing technology."
"These funds go beyond the
US; DARPA is now also directly funding gene drive researchers in
Australia (including monies given to an Australian government agency,
CSIRO) and researchers in the UK. The files also reveal an extremely
high level of interest and activity by other sections of the U.S.
military and Intelligence community."
People will argue the
military involvement is "defensive" in nature. The Pentagon must know
what our enemies are doing in their gene drive research labs, so we can
hopefully combat those efforts.
As we've seen in the past, such
claims about US military research on nuclear weapons and bio/chemical
warfare were proven false. The "defensive" research included the push
to develop offensive capability.
Knowing how military planner
think (and not just in the US), I'm sure their researchers are trying to
figure out how to use gene drives to eliminate "just a select part" of
the human population. Meaning the enemy. Which leads to the next
point:
The what-could-possibly-go-wrong question. As I've shown
in past articles, the latest and greatest gene editing tools (e.g.,
CRISPR), which are used for gene drives, are far from slam-dunk precise,
despite official assurances.
For example, Nature Communications,
May 31, 2017, "CRISPR/Cas9 targeting events cause complex deletions and
insertions at 17 sites in the mouse genome." Unintended genetic
"deletions and insertions."
And how about this study? It was
published in Genome Biology on June 14, 2017, and is titled,
"CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing induces exon skipping by
alternative splicing or exon deletion." An exon is "a segment of a DNA
or RNA molecule containing information coding for a protein or peptide
sequence." So you can see that exon skipping or deletion is a very bad
idea.
In other words, ANY gene editing done on ANY species opens
the door wide to all sorts of errors and unforeseen consequences.
Doomsday genetic warfare and mutually assured destruction are the far
shore of insanity...but closer in, where the highly limited experiments
are taking place, there is no safety zone, either. Insanity reigns
there as well.
"I went to Monsanto, and I spent a lot of time
with the scientists there, and I have revised my outlook, and I'm very
excited about telling the world. When you're in love, you want to tell
the world." (Bill Nye, the science guy)
"I know it's a
long shot and people would say it's 'too absurd'... but I'm doing this
with hopes of making a Mickey Mouse some day." (Arikuni Uchimura, quoted in "Japan bio-scientists produce 'singing mouse'", The Independent, 21 December 2010.)
"Genetic engineering is to traditional crossbreeding what the nuclear bomb was to the sword." (Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of Center for Food Safety)
SOURCE:
genedrivefiles[dot]synbiowatch[dot]org/ |
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