Advisers

Advisers warn Obama of high-tech bioterror threats

Current anti-bioterror efforts by the US government are not keeping up with the times and fail to address changes wrought by new technology such as the gene-editing tool CRISPR, President Barack Obama's scientific advisers said in a letter to the president this week. They suggest quickly establishing a cross-agency panel to address the challenges.

"While the ongoing growth of biotechnology is a great boon for society, it also holds serious potential for destructive use by both states and technically-competent individuals with access to modern laboratory facilities," the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) said in a Nov 15 letter.

"The U.S. Government's past ways of thinking and organizing to meet biological threats need to change to reflect and address this rapidly-developing landscape," the PCAST letter says, adding that the advisors "urge you to take immediate action to ensure that the Nation has the ability to meet these challenges."

Foremost among PCAST's immediate recommendations is the formation of an interagency group to plan, coordinate, and oversee national biodefense activities across the intelligence community and the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and Agriculture. It should have high-level representation from various agencies and be co-led by top administration officials.

The other immediate recommendation is to have Congress establish a Public Health Emergency Response Fund of at least $2 billion to address biosecurity needs, including those from naturally occurring pathogens. The report also includes three "medium-term" recommendations and one long-term recommendation.


Letter: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/PCAST/pcast_biodefense_letter_report_final.pdf

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2016/11/news-scan-nov-18-2016

I think what worries them most is a rogue nation or group like ISIS using the technology! After all, if you can cure a disease with the gene-editing tool CRISPR then you can also create one! You could build a disease that only attacks one race or one blood type!

I wish that was really funny but in these crazy times somehow i can't laugh about it!