INFECTIOUS DISEASES - Blackherbals.com

African Traditional Herbal Research ClinicVolume 1, Issue 12 NEWSLETTER December 2006FEATURED ARTICLESCustom-Built Pathogens Raise Bioterror FearsSTONY BROOK, N.Y.Eckard Wimmer knows of a shortcut terrorists couldsomeday use to get their hands on the lethal virusesthat cause Ebola and smallpox. He knows itexceptionally well, because he discovered it himself.In 2002, the German-born molecular geneticiststartled the scientific world by creating the first live,fully artificial virus in the lab. It was a variation ofthe bug that causes polio, yet different from any virusknown to nature. And Wimmer built it from scratch.The virus was made wholly from nonliving parts,using equipment and chemicals on hand in Wimmer'ssmall laboratory at the State University of New Yorkhere on Long Island. The most crucial part, thegenetic code, was picked up for free on the Internet.Hundreds of tiny bits of viral DNA were purchasedonline, with final assembly in the lab.Wimmer intended to sound a warning, to show thatscience had crossed a threshold into an era in whichgenetically altered and made-from-scratch germweapons were feasible. But in the four years since,other scientists have made advances faster thanWimmer imagined possible. Government officials,and scientists such as Wimmer, are only beginning tograsp the implications."The future," he said, "has already come."Five years ago, deadly anthrax attacks forcedAmericans to confront the suddenly real prospect ofbioterrorism. Since then the Bush administration haspoured billions of dollars into building a defensivewall of drugs, vaccines and special sensors that candetect dangerous pathogens. But already, technologyis hurtling past it. While government scientists presstheir search for new drugs for old foes such as classicanthrax, a revolution in biology has ushered in an ageof engineered microbes and novel ways to makethem.By Joby WarrickWashington PostJuly 31, 2006The new technology opens the door to new tools fordefeating disease and saving lives. But today, in hundredsof labs worldwide, it is also possible to transformcommon intestinal microbes into killers. Or to makedeadly strains even more lethal. Or to resurrect bygonekillers, such the 1918 influenza. Or to manipulate aperson's hormones by switching genes on or off. Or tocraft cheap, efficient delivery systems that can infectlarge numbers of people."The biological weapons threat is multiplying and will doso regardless of the countermeasures we try to take," saidSteven M. Block, a Stanford University biophysicist andformer president of the Biophysical Society. "You can'tstop it, any more than you can stop the progress ofmankind. You just have to hope that your collectivebrainpower can muster more resources than youradversaries'."The Bush administration has acknowledged the evolvingthreat, and last year it appointed a panel of scientists tobegin a years-long study of the problem. It also isbuilding a large and controversial lab in Frederick, wherenew bioterrorism threats can be studied and tested. Butoverall, specific responses have been few and slow.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasdeclined so far to police the booming gene-synthesisindustry, which churns out made-to-order DNA to sell toscientists. Oversight of controversial experiments remainsvoluntary and sporadic in many universities and privatelabs in the United States, and occurs even more rarelyoverseas.Bioterrorism experts say traditional biodefenseapproaches, such as stockpiling antibiotics or locking upwell-known strains such as the smallpox virus, remainimportant. But they are not enough."There's a name for fixed defenses that can easily beoutflanked: They are called Maginot lines," said RogerBrent, a California molecular biologist and former bio--8- Traditional African Clinic December 2006Continued on page 9