Interpol defines bioterrorism as “the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, toxins or other harmful agents to cause illness or death in people, animals or plants, with the intent to intimidate or coerce Governments or civilian populations to further political or social objectives”.
Biological weapons are a subset of a larger weapons class sometimes called unconventional weapons or weapons of mass destruction, which also includes chemical, nuclear and radiological weapons.
Although bioterrorism has seldom been employed from the mid-20th century onwards, this tactic has enormous potential to cause widespread harm and chaos, while procedures and protocols designed to prevent the implementation of bioterrorism are entirely inadequate.
CIA deputy director Mike Morrell warned recently that the threat of terrorism is growing again but the US government is not treating this threat with any urgency. A recent experiment carried out in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) laboratory of Prof KM Esvelt neatly demonstrated that anybody with access to laboratory facilities and familiarity with standard molecular biology techniques could readily fabricate deadly pathogenic viruses.
The MIT experiment was carried out by two PhD students under the supervision of the FBI. The students demonstrated how to recreate a virus identical to the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish Flu that infected 500 million people worldwide (a quarter of the population then) and killed 50 million.
The genome sequences of pandemic viruses are now widely available online as are step-by-step protocols to make infectious viruses by joining together synthetic DNA fragments easily available from gene companies.
Although it is illegal to sell all the DNA required to recreate an entire virus in a single order, it is not illegal to ship DNA fragments that could be strung together to recreate the entire virus.
The gene companies that make and sell DNA sequences to order are obliged to scan all orders for dangerous sequences and to supply such sequences only to laboratories certified by biosafety authority for this work. But this obligation is honoured far more in the breach than in the observance.
The students used simple evasive techniques to camouflage their order for gene-length DNA fragments that could be used to generate copies of the Spanish Flu virus. But their order otherwise should have looked very suspicious.
The order was made on behalf of an organisation that doesn’t carry out laboratory work. Nevertheless, 36 of the 38 providers approached supplied the DNA fragments without question. Only one company detected a hazard and asked for proof of biosafety approval for this work. Esvelt has developed a SecureDNA system to detect all the evasive techniques he used to obtain the Spanish Flu DNA. This system is now freely available to DNA providers.
Infectious diseases were used to harm people and armies as early as 600 BC. The simple use of filth and cadavers, animal carcasses and contagion could have devastating effects on the enemy. Polluting the water sources of the opposing army was a common strategy in European wars, the American Civil War, and even into the 20th century.
One of the first recorded use of biological weapons occurred in 1347 when a Mongol army threw plague-infested bodies over the city wall into the Black Sea port of Caffa to infect/kill the defenders.
Some historians believe ships from Caffa returned to Italy carrying the plague, starting the Black Death pandemic that spread across Europe in the next four years, killing 25 million people – one-third of the world population then.
In recent times, biological weapons have been deployed only occasionally. One example was in 2001 in America when letters laced with infectious anthrax were delivered to news and US Congress offices, causing five deaths.
The potential for bioterrorism to cause widespread disruption and death is huge. We all recall the death, fear and disruption, still ongoing, resulting from the Covid pandemic caused by Sars Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2.
The International Biological Weapons Convention bans biological and toxin weapons but lacks any mechanism for enforcement. Also, it only applies to actions of nations, not terrorists.
The ease with which it is possible to assemble deadly viruses using information freely available online greatly expands the potential for terrorists to act. Strict regulations to guard against wrongdoing must be introduced immediately and rigidly enforced.
- William Reville is an emeritus professor of Biochemistry at UCC
