The Genetically Modified Bomb

[Q]

Published on Wednesday, September 10, 2003 by CommonDreams.org

The Genetically Modified Bomb

by Thom Hartmann
 
Imagine a bomb that only kills Caucasians with red hair. Or short people. Or Arabs. Or Chinese.

Now imagine that this new bomb could be set off anywhere in the world, and that within a matter of days, weeks, or months it would kill every person on the planet who fits the bomb's profile, although the rest of us would be left standing. And the bomb could go off silently, without anybody realizing it had been released - or even where it was released - until its victims started dying in mass numbers.

Who would imagine such a thing? Paul Wolfowitz, for one. William Kristol for another. And, history shows, when the men who define U.S. military policy from the shadows set their sights on something, it's worthy of our attention.

I have brown hair and eyes, both determined by specific genes, and there are probably other markers deep within my DNA that would show a geneticist that most of my ancestors are Norwegian, Welsh, and English. While there's no one gene for race, there are numerous genes for the various components of what we call race - hair color and texture, skin and eye color, eye and nose shape, predispositions or immunities to disease like Sickle Cell Anemia or Tay-Sachs, and the like.

When creating a genetic bomb to target specific groups, such genetic profiles are actually far subtler and more accurate than the coarse pseudo-category we call race. Among men named Cohen all over the world, for example, researchers have found a specific genetic profile tying them all back to a common ancestor. Another group with a common genetic profile are people with ADHD ("The Edison Gene"), who uniquely share common inherited variations in their dopamine-regulating genes regardless of their ostensible race, geography, or ethnicity.

Thus, anybody who's part of a group with a shared genetic profile may be at risk in the future, suggest the authors of The Project for a New American Century 's (PNAC) report titled " Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century. " - http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0910-15.htm

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

- Okay...I'll say it: Hitler would have loved to have such a weapon.

[DuctapeFatwa]

1. Quote and Link from PNAC documents

...And advanced forms of biological warfare
that can "target" specific genotypes may
transform biological warfare from the realm
of terror to a politically useful tool....


http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf

[Q]

2. "a politically useful tool.... "

- I hope most Americans understand that those who want this type of weapon are INSANE.

[StClone]

3. Certainly insane

Nukes, too...

[ArkDem]

4. What if it only killed wingnuts

?

[StClone]

5. The genetic marker

Would be a monkey wrench shaped tangle of DNA on the CroMagnon marker gene.

[kwolf68]

6. I doubt this is plausable at this point

By the time we can actually isolate genes to this specificity we will have blown ourselves up good enough with conventional nukes.

[Cat Atomic]

7. I'm still floored by that statement.

It's an endorsement of genocide. It's just disgusting.

It recalls something I heard on the radio about 4 years ago. This was on some right wing wacko show... though I don't remember which one.

They had a guy on who was making the case for Israel, when a man of some middle eastern descent called in, and the two began arguing. It got pretty heated, and the pro-Israel guy said something to the effect of, 'you just wait- I know of guys who are working on biological weapons that can target only Arabs- things will change then'.

He was an obvious psycho, and I assumed he was just spouting BS. But now I wonder if he hadn't got that idea from reading the PNAC documents.

[Atlant]

8. The idea's been around longer than PNAC. (Just FYI)

And it will be practical a lot sooner than the replier in #6 thinks.

Atlant