The program of the US military on the use of insects for the spread of genetically modified viruses may violate the Biological Weapons Convention. This is stated in a study of a group of scientists from universities in Germany and France, published in Science .
The article for the leading scientific journal was prepared by an international group of specialists in evolutionary genetics and bioethics.
The project Insect Allies (“Allied Insects”) is being developed in the Advanced Research Projects Directorate (DARPA) of the United States Department of Defense. The official task of the experiments is the “horizontal” edition of the chromosomes of the plants, which will be produced by insect-borne viruses. Stated that the program will be used in agriculture.
The authors of a study published in Science note the far-reaching biological, economic and social consequences for the environment that the Pentagon program may have. Scientists doubt that the project can bring practical benefits to US agriculture.
“As a result, the program can be perceived by many as an attempt to create biological agents and their means of delivery for hostile purposes, which – if this is true – would violate the Biological Weapons Convention,” the report says.
It is noted that 27 million dollars has been spent on Insect Allies since 2016.
On Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Defense accused American scientists working at the Georgian medical center Lugar of experimenting on people. In the military, they believe that America under the guise of treatment was testing toxic chemicals on local residents. The Pentagon said that the center of Lugar belongs to the Georgian authorities. Zurab Abashidze, special representative of the Georgian prime minister for relations with Russia, added that the laboratory is funded and managed from Tbilisi.