22 January 1999. Thanks to Anon.

See related defensive human genome remarks by President Clinton: http://jya.com/bbr012299.htm

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et/99/1/22/ngen22.html

    Electronic Telgraph, Issue 1337 Friday 22 January 1999

    Genetic Science 'Could Be Used For Ethnic Cleansing'
    By Aisling Irwin, Science Correspondent

    Rapid advances in genetics will soon transform biological weapons into
    potent tools of ethnic cleansing and terrorism, according to doctors.

    The British Medical Association said that weapons that could distinguish
    between ethnic groups by exploiting tiny genetic or cellular differences
    between them could be a reality within a decade. Just as breakthroughs in
    atomic physics earlier this century led rapidly to the nuclear bomb, genetic
    science was providing researchers with new means of aiming and delivering
    biological weapons, the association said.

    Launching a report, Biotechnology Weapons and Humanity, the BMA called for
    "urgent and intense" efforts to tighten the Biological and Toxin Weapons
    Convention, agreed in 1972 to stop the spread of biological and chemical
    weapons. In reality, such weapons are "poorly regulated and controlled", the
    BMA argued. The report noted that while biological weapons had been around
    since the earliest times, they had always had huge disadvantages, in
    particular the risk of infecting more than just the enemy.

    But these barriers would soon be overcome because of the knowledge being
    generated by the Human Genome Project, an international effort to locate
    every element of the human genetic blueprint by 2003, and by the Human
    Genetic Diversity Project, in which scientists were recording the genetics
    of threatened ethnic groups.

    The report said: "In genetic terms there are more similarities between
    different people and peoples than there are differences. But the differences
    exist, and may singly, or in combination, distinguish the members of one
    social group from another."

    These markers could be harnessed as triggers so that an agent such as a
    disease-carrying virus would be harmless to those who did not possess them.
    The report conceded that such predictions might sound like science fiction
    and said "genetic warfare is not, in all probability, a practical
    possibility today". But it noted the growing number of scientists who were
    issuing warnings that such methods would soon be possible.

    Terrorist groups could develop biological weapons relatively easily. Their
    manufacture would require experienced scientists but detailed instructions
    were available on the Internet. A conference to review the 1972 convention
    is due in 2001 and the text of a verification protocol is now being
    negotiated.

    The Foreign Office said Britain was leading an effort to improve the
    convention. A disarmament conference in Geneva on Jan 4 began negotiations
    which aim to compile a set of verification protocols. Britain has offered to
    host the signing ceremony for the finalised agreement.

    Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 1999.

     - - - - - - - - - - - -

    http://www.gbhap-us.com/abi/med/bma4m.htm

    The Gordon and Breach Publishing Group

    MEDICAL AND LIFE SCIENCES
    NEW AND FORTHCOMING TITLES

    BIOTECHNOLOGY, WEAPONS AND HUMANITY

    The British Medical Association, London, UK

    This report considers whether new biological weapons, made possible by the
    mapping of the human genome, could be incorporated into the arsenals of
    states and terrorist organizations. How might the revolution in
    biotechnology be used to attack the genetic constitution of a national or
    ethnic group, or enhance the virulence of organizations hostile to human
    health?

    Biotechnology, Weapons and Humanity traces the historical development of
    biological weapons and considers the role of health care professionals,
    scientists, governments, and international agencies in limiting and managing
    the effects of new biological weapons. In particular, the strengths and
    weaknesses of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention are examined, and
    steps that can be taken to minimize the risk of the proliferation of
    weapons.

    Readership:
    Medical professionals; scientists; public policy makers interested in arms
    regulation and civil defense; undergraduates, graduates and researchers in
    politics, international relations and the biological sciences; and the
    general reader.

    January 1999  176pp
    Cloth      ISBN: 90-5702-459-4  US$39 / £25 / EUR33
    Paperback  ISBN: 90-5702-460-8  US$22 / £14 / EUR18
    Harwood Academic Publisher

    All prices are tentative and subject to change.

    Copyright 1999 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) N.V.

     - - - - - - - - - - - -