Nobel Prize Hoffman to EuroFora : No BioTerror/War Risk if Virus skips Immunity system +hits Genes ?

While a crucial UNO 5-Years Conference on Biological Weapons' Convention currently prepares to take final Decisions at nearby Geneva (1-22 December 2011), the latest Nobel Prize winner on Biology and Medicine, world famous researcher on the innate Immunity System of Insects, Professor emeritus of Strasbourg's University, Dr. Jules Hoffmann, speaking to "EuroFora", surprisingly but strongly denied that European Defense might need to fund Research on how to safeguard People or Nations, by helping them to face, (f.ex. by possible creation of Antidotes or other prevention, etc) eventual Bio-Terrorism and/or Bio-Warfare if anyone might abuse any of his findings, which relate to Virus' infection of Insects' Genes whenever its innate Immune System might fail.

 (See also other Hoffmann's statements to "EuroFora" at our main story, herewith),

- "No. Not at all !", Dr. Hoffmann energetically replied to "EuroFora"s question, which reminded Hopes to invent New therapeutic Drugs inspired by his work, but also questioned the possible need to invent appropriate Antidotes and/or other efficient Safeguards able to face any eventual abuse by Bio-Terrorism and/or Bio-Warfare of his findings on how the mechanism of insects' innate Immune System works, (similar to those of Mammals, i.e. including Human Beings, as he had observed earlier).

Invited by "EuroFora" to explain the reasons of his denial, Hoffmann preferred to stick to the hypothesis that, in general, terrorists use simpler methods, and wouldn''t have enough means to penetrate inside so sophisticated High-Tech formulas

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- "Everybody spoke about Hopes to generate in the Future, (in addition to a Scientific Fame), also concrete benefits inspired from your work, including, among others, mainly, possible inventions for New Drugs etc.. But there are also other aspects, such as, f.ex. of Security or Defense, French and/or European.  if, f.ex., some Bio-Terrorists might take at least a part of your work in order to abuse of it for the fabrication of Dangerous Bio-Weapons, etc."

=> " Do you think that it would be interesting to stimulate Scientific Research towards both directions: both for New Drugs and for Security and/or Defense, French and/or European, concerning, f.ex. the Protection of (+Human) Immunity System ?",  "EuroFora" asked Hoffmann.    

- "I don't think so. Absolutely, No !", sharply replied Dr. Jules Hoffmann to "EuroFora"s question, expressing a surprisingly crystal-clear Refusal for that perspective, (f.ex. invention of Antidotes able to protect People from eventual Threats to disrupt their Immune System by introducing Virus affecting Genes in Cells, etc).

- Astonished, "EuroFora" asked the Nobel prize winner, at least, to explain "Why ? Don't you think that there might be any (such) Danger" to prevent, in this direction ?   

Interestingly, however, Dr. Hoffmann didn't really deny any possibility for such Risks, in his final reply. On the contrary, he preferred to somehow change point of view, pointing no more to the Possibility itself for such BioTerrorism and/or BioWarfare, but rather on its Probability in practice, given the High Level of Technicity for simple Laymen in this particular domain :       

    - "There is No Danger here", at first he started to claim, but immediately changed Focus : Because - "There are Other Ways to exert Bio-Terrorism (and/or BioWarfare) than those Complicated things that you consider", went on to explain Dr. Jules Hoffman in reply to "EuroFora"s secondary question.

I.e. Hoffman obviously focused mainly on the Level of Technical "Complexity" in this domain, thinking only to simple Laymen without Intellectual capacity nor specific Technical Data Information, and, implicitly but surely excluding a priori any "Accident" (f.ex. in a Labo), and any Foreign Power's Biological Warfare capacities, i.e. without even taking into account the potential Dangers which have incited the World-wide Community to establish the International Convention against Biological Weapons (BWC),  whose Secretariat is headquartered at nearby Geneva, after being signed and ratified by more than 165 States !...

It's true that Real "Intellectuals", in the substantial and Noble sens of the word, (i.e. Persons who combine High Levels of Intelligence and Insight, with social, Historic and Moral Consience, acting for the general good of Humanity, and glad to develop their personal capacities by helping the largest possible number of other People to develop also theirs, i.e. by actively contributing to raise the General Intellectual level of the whole Society), would NEVER commit any abuse against innocent People. But, on the contrary, it's also true, that, if not would be Terrorists, at least some States wouldn't have any difficulties at all to find some petty and unscrupulous Technocrats, moved only by their selfish interests, accaparating means of intellectual Development for their private aims, by excluding other People in narrow-minded competition, and not giving a damn for Society's and/or Humanity's general interest, who would be ready to commit almost any imprudence or abuse, perhaps even crime, in attempts to dominate by ruse and/or force, exploit or even oppress others...

- The Biological Weapons Convention "was created to ensure that Life Sciences and BioTechnology are used only for the benefit of Humanity", reportedly stressed, earlier this month, the President of the 7th Review Conference, Ambassador Paul van den IJssel of the Netherlands.

- "Governments alone cannot confront the Risks posed by Biological Weapons ... to manage the full spectrum of Biological Risks – from naturally-occurring Diseases, Accidents and Negligence, to Terrorism and the deliberate use of biological Weapons – you need a cohesive, coordinated network of activities and resources. Such a network will help to ensure that Biological Science and Technology can be Safely and securely developed for the benefit of all", declared, in a previous BWC Geneva meeting, UNO's Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon.

As stated in Article 1 of the BWC: - "Each State Party to this Convention undertakes never in any circumstances to develop, produce, stockpile or otherwise acquire or retain: "

(1) "Microbial or other biological agents, or toxins whatever their origin or method of production, of types and in quantities that have no justification for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes;"

(2) "Weapons, equipment or means of delivery designed to use such agents or toxins (See supra) for hostile purposes or in armed conflict."

 Permitted "purposes" under the BWC are defined as prophylactic, protective and other peaceful purposes. But the objects may not be retained in quantities that have no justification or which are inconsistent with those purposes, according to Wikipedia.
Geneva UNO Conferences, held each 5 years, made it clear that this "general Purpose-Criterion encompasses all future scientific and technological developments relevant to the Convention".

- BWC "matches a broad and absolute prohibition of biological and toxin weapons, with protections for the Development of the peaceful applications of biological Science and Technology", underlined its current President, Ambassador van den IJssel.

 - "Negotiated 40 years ago, at the height of the Cold War, .. (now) BWC has overcome a difficult Past, (since) "for the 1st time in over a decade, the ...States parties are in a position to take Significant steps Forward in shaping the Future", he optimistically anounced.

This includes (according to UNO) :

- "A new .... Work programme ..for the period 2012-2015, focusing on improving the implementation".

- "Assessing the implications of Advances in Science and Technology – particularly considering the rapid progress in New fields, such as Synthetic Biology"; ( I.e., "a new area of biological research that combines Science and Engineering. .-including- the Design ...of New biological functions and systems, Not found in Nature", as Wikipedia reminds. F.ex.  in the sens of "Polish Geneticist Waclaw Szybalski, who used the term "synthetic biology" in 1974, writing:  "Up to now we are working on the Descriptive phase of molecular Biology. ... But the real challenge will start when we enter the Synthetic Biology phase of research in our field. We will then devise ...and add ...New modules to the existing Genomes or build up wholly new genomes. ...a field with ....hardly any limitations to building ....other "Synthetic" Organisms, like a "New Better Mouse").

- "Updating the Confidence Building Measures – annual exchanges of information among States parties"

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According to UNO's official presentation of the BWC, "Biological weapons are devices which disseminate disease-causing organisms or poisons to kill or harm Humans, Animals or Plants. They generally comprise 2 parts – an Agent and a Delivery device".
It is well known that among  various such "Delivery Devices", "Viruses" can also be manipulated and used as artificial Gene-carrying Vehicles,  in order to penetrate inside the Cells of a Human, Animal or Plant and adversely affect its own, Natural Genes, if ways are found to bypass its Immunity System. In fact it's a similar method as that routinely used for anodynous Vaccins, which, on the contrary, aim at a positive, Therapeutic purpose of Disease prevention, by stimulating the reactions of the adaptive Immunity System.

- "Almost any disease-causing organism (such as Bacteria, Viruses, fungi, prions or rickettsiae) or toxin (poisons derived from animals, plants or microorganisms, or ...synthetically produced) can be used in Biological Weapons", UNO observes.
UNO's documents on Biological Weapons warn that, "in addition to their Military use ...on a Battlefield, they can be used for Assassinations (having a Political effect), can cause Social disruption (for example, through enforced quarantine), kill or remove from the Food-chain livestock or agricultural produce (thereby causing Economic losses), or create Environmental problems".

F.ex., "Historical efforts to produce Biological Weapons have included: aflatoxin; anthrax; botulinum toxin; foot-and-mouth disease; glanders; plague; Q fever; rice blast; ricin; Rocky Mountain spotted fever; smallpox; and tularaemia" (etc). Delivery devices can also take any number of different forms'.

Already, "Biological Weapons have been used in Politically-motivated or Criminal acts on a number of occasions during the 20th Century."

=> Most important, (concerning "EuroFora"s above mentioned, particular Question to Dr. Hoffmann), UNO clearly warns that, "as well as concerns that these weapons could be developed or used by States, modern technology is making it increasingly likely they could be acquired by Private Organisations, Groups of People or even Individuals". ..... "The use of these (Biological) Weapons by such Non-State Actors is known as BioTerrorism".
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World famous Examples of Bio-Terrorism are those of the Deadly "Anhrax scare", involving contaminated Letters sent to targetted persons in the U.S. at around September 11, 2001, as well that of a reported Secte accused to threaten with dangerous, Toxic   Gas pollution Tokyo's public transport areas etc. some years ago, while even former Iraq's autocratic ruler Saddam Hussein had been accused to prepare also Biological Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Moreover, various Science Fiction Cinema Films have recently published scenarios with differend Criminal gangs or maverick technicians getting hold of High-Tech Biological inventions turned into Weapons of targetted and/or Mass Destruction, including one of the late, large public, "mature" Sean Connery's films (famous from his James Bond past series, etc).

+ But, in real practice, Risks obviously include also various tragic "Accidents", as those which were reportedly provoked by leakages f.ex. of Chemical substances from a particular type of Vaccin prepared in a UK Labo, to waters which transmitted it to nearby Agricultural Farms, provoking a Deadly Spread of foot and mouth Sheep disease, and/or of the infamous SARS Virus escaped from a Hong Kong Labo which threatened a Pandemy after killing many People in China, etc.
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 Strasbourg's Dr. Jules Hoffmann reportedly has no personal relation at all with the simply homonumous "Hoffmann-Laroche MultiNational Corporation , "No 1 Tamiflu producer in the World", (famous from the 2005 Avian flu pandemic particularly in Kurdish regions of Turkey and in China, etc), the name Hoffmann being largely widespread throughout most of the Western World (from Germany to USA, Austalia, etc).

- Thus, f.ex., another homonumous "Professor Ary Hoffman  from Australia's University of Melbourne", reportedly anounced on "August 2011", that  If a special Virus crosses through Insects' Immunity System, f.ex., by  "infected mosquitoes with a bacterium called Wolbachia", then, "an infected mother ....can only mate successfully with an uninfected male, (because) if she mates with an infected male, her offspring will die".

- This appears interesting in practice since the inocculated Bacterium is reportedly "preventing the mosquito from contracting dengue fever". "And if dengue cannot grow in mosquitoes, it cannot infect people," a team of Australian researchers said.

- Therefore, after succesfully testing how to "infect up to 100 % of the Aedes aegypti mosquito Population with the bacteria in northern Australia city of Cairns", since "it actually allows the Bacterium to spread very quickly in a Population", they anounced this year (2011) that "the Next step is to test the effectiveness of Wolbachia on the actual spread of dengue on Human being".

- Particularly "in countries such as Vietnam and Brazil, which have a major problem with dengue", where " infected Mosquitoes could be collected in one area and used to seed infection in another area", with a " roll-out (which) could be incredibly Cheap", with "a particularly good Technology to use in the Developing world", according to that team.
(See : http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/health/2011-08/26/c_131077448.htm )
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- During the 2nd World War, "the Japanese Military, ...sprayed disease-carrying fleas from low-flying airplanes and dropped bombs packed with flies and a slurry of cholera bacteria. The Japanese killed at least 440,000 Chinese using plague-infected fleas and cholera-coated flies, according to a 2002 International Symposium of Historians", while, "during the Cold War, the US military planned a facility to produce 100 million yellow-fever-infected mosquitoes a month, produced an "Entomological Warfare Target Analysis" of vulnerable sites in the Soviet Union and among its allies, and tested the dispersal and biting capacity of (uninfected) mosquitoes by secretly dropping the insects over American cities", according to U.S. Author, Professor of Entomology, Jeffrey A. Lockwood, in an article published by Boston Globe on 2007.

A genetic mutation of "African Rift Valley fever, originally found in 1931, (i.e.) the viral disease (which) caused abortions in pregnant livestock while young animals suffered 10 to 70 % mortality", "appeared in 1977 (with) a virulent Strain .. that is able to invade the Human Nervous System. Of 200,000 Egyptians who fell ill, some 2,000 lost their eyesight and 598 died of encephalitis", while "an outbreak in Kenya ...killed 118 people" on January 2007", he observed. But, "in the summer of 1999, ...West Nile virus arrived" even to the U.S. :  "A natural experiment in entomological warfare unfolded as public-health agencies scrambled to explain and then control a debilitating disease. In the next 7 years, the technological might of the United States could not keep mosquitoes from carrying a disease across the nation to sicken nearly 7,000 people and kill 654 victims", he denounced, while various other Nile virus carrying mosquitos recently made several Victims also from Greece up to Russia.
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 - "The Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention (BWC) of 1972 .. covers Insect vectors : Article I bans "Weapons, equipment or means of delivery designed to use such agents or toxins for hostile purposes or in armed conflict."... It would appear, due to the text of the BWC, that Insect Vectors as an aspect of Entomological Warfare are covered and outlawed by the Convention", observes Wikipedia.

However, "Agriculture, and particularly Food production, is often cited as the No 1 Target of possible BioTerrorism and/or BioWarfare through introduction of disease carrying Insects", by Dr. Lockwood.
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The fact that "Insects often harm Agriculture and/or provoke many DIseases", while also representing some 80% of animals, as Dr. Hoffmann observed, is a main reason for which he had decided to focus his Research on Insects' "Immunity System".

+ Moreover, "Sensing and reacting to Virus' infections is astonishingly similar (even if not identical) between insects and mammals", Hoffman stressed in Stockholm at the eve of the 2011 Nobel prize award.
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=> For all those reasons, it's obviously normal that "Research into the Defense or protection against Biological Warfare", (i.e. as AGG questioned Hoffmann, See supra), is "currently pursued by many Countries, including signatories of the Biological Weapons Convention" (BWC), which "does not prohibit it", as Wikipedia notes.

Among many other concrete examples, f.ex. NATO's Official sources also anounced, already on the occasion of its 2009 Heads of State/Governments' 60th Anniversary Summit in Strasbourg, (Comp. "EuroFora"s NewsReports from that exceptional event), that among its Hi-Tech. and Research sectors are included also issues affecting Human Health and Biology in the modern times.

In conclusion, given all the above-mentioned Facts, Dr. Hoffmann obviously would better review or, at least, clarify his reply to "EuroFora"'s question, unless he is already aware of all or most of such facts, and might be, probably, already  conscious of the need to do also Research for Defense purposes in order to be able to protect People from any eventual abuse, Bio-Terrorism and/or BioWarfare, thanks to the possible Invention of efficient Safeguards, (even if he might not deem good to acknowledge that in Public).