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Weaponized genomics: potential threats to international and human security

Genetic technologies are revolutionizing human health. In parallel, geopolitical instability has prompted renewed discussions on the risks of DNA technology being weaponized in international conflict. With today’s changing security environment, we argue that risk assessments must be broadened from genetically targeted weapons to a series of new domains.

Discussions on military deployment of DNA technology have for decades been dominated by fears of advancement towards genetically targeted precision weapons, also called ethnic bioweapons. These discussions first gained momentum during the Cold War, when bioweapons directed at certain nationalities were discussed as part of high-technology armed warfare. The fear of using genetically manipulated biological agents as bioweapons was to some extent warranted. For instance, a network of laboratories where genetically modified viruses were researched for military applications was established in the Soviet Union and remained in use even after its collapse1. However, in today’s geopolitical conflicts, advanced technology is used in domains far beyond the conventional battlefield. Deepfake videos and social media ‘bots’ for disinformation purposes and malicious software for targeting vital infrastructure are examples of how antagonistic actions now go well beyond the military sphere. Technology is having an increasing role in conflicts playing out in the grey zone between war and peace. Biomedical sciences will not remain unaffected by this development that has once again opened up for an ‘all means necessary’ approach to international affairs. This was amply highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, when supplies of vaccines and personal protective equipment were deliberately used as instruments of political influence. Akin to how the science of chemistry was instrumentalized during the First World War and nuclear science during the Second World War, biotechnology is now considered to be a strategic asset by the national security establishment of major powers2. Clearly, the time has come to revisit discussions on how genetic technology may be exploited in international power struggles in a way that goes far beyond bioweapons and armed conflict. It is time to consider how genetics may be exploited in the grey zone between war and peace3.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for constructive criticism from P. Bacchus (Swedish Armed Forces) and K. Mossman (Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, Canada).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Subhayan Chattopadhyay & David Gisselsson

  2. Faculty of Social Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Tony Ingesson

  3. Faculty of Law, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Alberto Rinaldi & Jessica Almqvist

  4. Department of Political Science and Law, Swedish Defence University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Oscar Larsson

  5. Department of War Studies and Military History, Swedish Defence University, Stockholm, Sweden

    J. J. Widen

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  1. Subhayan Chattopadhyay
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Nature Reviews Genetics thanks Filippa Lentzos and Daniel S. Schabacker for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Chattopadhyay, S., Ingesson, T., Rinaldi, A. et al. Weaponized genomics: potential threats to international and human security.
Nat Rev Genet (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-023-00677-8

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  • Published: 22 November 2023

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-023-00677-8

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