Ethnic bioweapon

An ethnic bioweapon (biogenetic weapon) aims to harm only or primarily persons of specific ethnicities or genotypes. One of the first fictional discussions of such weapons is in Robert A. Heinlein's 1942 novel Sixth Column (republished as The Day After Tomorrow) in which a race-specific radiation weapon is used against a so-called "Pan-Asian" invader. The practicality of ethnic bioweapons is disputed, the biggest obstacles being the diversity of the human genotype and the spectrum of shared alleles across human races.^[1]. In Heinlein's novel, for example, the bioweapon does not discriminate between the invader and Americans of Asian descent.

In 1997, U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen referred to the concept as a possible risk.^[2] In 2005 the official view of the International Committee of the Red Cross was "The potential to target a particular ethnic group with a biological agent is probably not far off. These scenarios are not the product of the ICRC's imagination but have either occurred or been identified by countless independent and governmental experts,"^[3] even though contemporary definitions of ethnicities do not include any genetic or racial components.^[4]

The possibility of a "genetic bomb" is presented in Vincent Sarich's and Frank Miele's book, Race: The Reality of Human Differences, published in 2004. The authors believe that information from the Human Genome Project will be used in just such a manner. Even in 1998 some biological weapon experts considered such a "genetic weapon" a plausible possibility, and believed the former Soviet Union had undertaken some research on the influence of various substances on human genes.^[5]

Additional recommended knowledge

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Allegations against Israel

In November 1998, The Sunday Times reported that Israel was attempting to build an "ethno-bomb" containing a biological agent that could specifically target genetic traits present amongst Arab populations.^[6] Wired News also reported the story^{[7] [8]}, as did Foreign Report ^[9].

Expert reaction to the reports was skeptical towards the scientific plausibility of such a biological agent. ^[10] The New York Post, describing the claims as "blood libel", reported that the likely source for the story was a work of science fiction by Israeli academic Doron Stanitsky. Stanitsky had sent his completely fictional work about such a weapon to Israeli newspapers two years before. The article also noted the views of genetic researchers who claimed the idea as "wholly fantastical".^[11]

No independent confirmation of the article has ever surfaced.

Russian ban on export of biological samples

In May 2007, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that the Russian government banned all exports of human biosamples. ^[12] The report claims that the reason for the ban was a secret FSB report about on-going development of "genetic bioweapons" targeting Russian population by Western institutions. The report mentions the Harvard School of Public Health, American International Health Alliance, United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division, Karolinska Institutet and United States Agency for International Development.

See also

• Race in biomedicine
• Pharmacogenomics
• Toxicogenomics
• Project Coast

References