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COMMENT: Kris Newby has authored an important new book about Lyme Disease and biological warfare, detailing the development of the affliction for biological warfare ends.
We emphatically recommend that listeners/readers purchase and read what Ms. Newby has given us.
A key foundational element for the discussion of Bitten is the Pentagon’s decades-long research into the genetic manipulation of microbial pathogens.
- Nobel Prize winner Joshua Lederberg warned of the consequences for humanity of this work: ” . . . .‘The large-scale deployment of infectious agents is a potential threat against the whole species: mutant forms of viruses could well develop that would spread over the earth’s population for a new Black Death,’ said Lederberg in a Washington Post editorial on September 24, 1966. He added, ‘The future of the species is very much bound up with the control of these weapons. Their use must be regulated by the most thoughtful reconsideration of U.S. and world policy.’ . . .”
- The Pentagon was dismissive of the warning: ” . . . . A month later, the army’s Biological Subcommittee Munitions Advisory Group thumbed its nose at this ‘national pronouncement made by prominent scientists.’ . . . The advisory group then continued discussing its plans for genetic manipulation of microbes, new rickettsial and viral agents, and the development of a balanced program for both incapacitating and lethal agents. . . .”
- By 1962, the military’s plans for development of genetically modified microbes were developing in earnest. ” . . . . Fort Detrick’s director of biological research, Dr. J.R. Goodlow, on February 16, 1962 . . . added, ‘Studies of bacterial genetics are also in progress with the aim of transferring genetic determinants from one type of organism to another.‘The goal of these experiments was to make biological agents more virulent and resistant to antibiotics. . . .”
The Pentagon’s genetic manipulation of microorganisms for biological warfare purposes involved the Rocky Mountain Lab and Willy Burgdorfer.
- ” . . . . Bioweapons researchers such as Willy knew that infecting large populations would require exposing people to agents for which they had no natural immunity. And to do this, researchers would have to import and/or invent new microbes. They were, in essence, playing God, creating ‘bacteriological freaks or mutants,’ by using chemicals, radiation, ultraviolet light, and other agents, wrote modern investigative journalism pioneer Jack Anderson in a Washington Post column on August 27, 1965. . . .”
- ” . . . . Willy had already been conducting a trial-and-error style of genetic manipulation in the same way that a corn farmer or a hog grower selectively breeds strains that result in desired outcomes. He was growing microbes inside ticks, having the ticks feed on animals, and then harvesting the microbes from the animals that exhibited the level of illness the military had requested. . . .”
- ” . . . . He was also simultaneously mixing bacteria and viruses inside ticks, leveraging the virus’s innate ability to manipulate bacterial genes in order to reproduce, and thus accelerating the rate of mutations and desirable new bacterial traits. In 1966, Fort Detrick’s Biological Subcommittee Munitions Advisory Group put this emerging research area at the top of its priorities, describing it as ‘Research in microbial genetics concerned with aspects of transformation, transduction, and recombination.’ . .”
1. Entree into our discussion of Kris Newby’s revealing, vitally important book is provided by the insight of Nobel Prize winner Dr. Joshua Lederberg, who warned about genetic manipulation, biological warfare and the dangers to humankind presented by the combination of these two activities.
As will be seen below, genetic manipulation of microorganisms was in full swing by 1966, when Lederberg issued his statement.
. . . . One of the most vocal critics was Joshua Lederberg, PhD, a 1958 Nobel Prize recipient for his pioneering work on bacterial genetics while at the University of Wisconsin. After he moved to Stanford, Lederberg began early research on gene splicing, and started to understand the responsibilities that can come with creating new life forms. This concern motivated him to start lobbying policymakers to draft a treaty to ban biological weapons.
“The large-scale deployment of infectious agents is a potential threat against the whole species: mutant forms of viruses could well develop that would spread over the earth’s population for a new Black Death,” said Lederberg in a Washington Post editorial on September 24, 1966. He added, “The future of the species is very much bound up with the control of these weapons. Their use must be regulated by the most thoughtful reconsideration of U.S. and world policy.”
A month later, the army’s Biological Subcommittee Munitions Advisory Group thumbed its nose at this “national pronouncement made by prominent scientists.” Downplaying the scientists’ concerns, Fort Detrick’s scientific director, Riley Housewright, said that “such publicity would probably best be considered to be an annoyance.” The advisory group then continued discussing its plans for genetic manipulation of microbes, new rickettsial and viral agents, and the development of a balanced program for both incapacitating and lethal agents. . . .
2. By 1962, the military’s plans for development of genetically modified microbes were developing in earnest. ” . . . . Fort Detrick’s director of biological research, Dr. J.R. Goodlow, on February 16, 1962 . . . added, ‘Studies of bacterial genetics are also in progress with the aim of transferring genetic determinants from one type of organism to another.‘The goal of these experiments was to make biological agents more virulent and resistant to antibiotics. . . .”
. . . . An interview with Fort Detrick’s director of biological research, Dr. J.R. Goodlow, on February 16, 1962, however, suggests one possible research agenda: “Research on new agents has tended to concentrate on viral and rickettsial diseases. . . with major effort directed at increased first-hand knowledge of these so-called arbo (i.e., arthropod-borne) viruses.”
The United States had also begun basic research on the genetic manipulation of microorganisms. In that same report, Goodlow added, “Studies of bacterial genetics are also in progress with the aim of transferring genetic determinants from one type of organism to another.” The goal of these experiments was to make biological agents more virulent and resistant to antibiotics. . . .
3. The Pentagon’s genetic manipulation of microorganisms for biological warfare purposes involved the Rocky Mountain Lab and Willy Burgdorfer.
- ” . . . . Bioweapons researchers such as Willy knew that infecting large populations would require exposing people to agents for which they had no natural immunity. And to do this, researchers would have to import and/or invent new microbes. They were, in essence, playing God, creating ‘bacteriological freaks or mutants,’ by using chemicals, radiation, ultraviolet light, and other agents, wrote modern investigative journalism pioneer Jack Anderson in a Washington Post column on August 27, 1965. . . .”
- ” . . . . Willy had already been conducting a trial-and-error style of genetic manipulation in the same way that a corn farmer or a hog grower selectively breeds strains that result in desired outcomes. He was growing microbes inside ticks, having the ticks feed on animals, and then harvesting the microbes from the animals that exhibited the level of illness the military had requested. . . .”
- ” . . . . He was also simultaneously mixing bacteria and viruses inside ticks, leveraging the virus’s innate ability to manipulate bacterial genes in order to reproduce, and thus accelerating the rate of mutations and desirable new bacterial traits. In 1966, Fort Detrick’s Biological Subcommittee Munitions Advisory Group put this emerging research area at the top of its priorities, describing it as ‘Research in microbial genetics concerned with aspects of transformation, transduction, and recombination.’ . .”
. . . . Advances in microbial genetics had opened up the potential of manipulating viruses and rickettsias to create more powerful weapons, both lethal and incapacitating. The perfect incapacitating agent was one that made a large percentage of a population moderately ill for weeks to months. The illness it caused would have to be hard to diagnose and treat, and under the best circumstances, the target population shouldn’t even be aware they’d been dosed with a bioweapon. This would make it easier for invading, vaccinated soldiers to take over cities and industrial infrastructure without much of a fight or the destruction of property.
Bioweapons researchers such as Willy knew that infecting large populations would require exposing people to agents for which they had no natural immunity. And to do this, researchers would have to import and/or invent new microbes. They were, in essence, playing God, creating “bacteriological freaks or mutants,” by using chemicals, radiation, ultraviolet light, and other agents, wrote modern investigative journalism pioneer Jack Anderson in a Washington Post column on August 27, 1965.
Willy had already been conducting a trial-and-error style of genetic manipulation in the same way that a corn farmer or a hog grower selectively breeds strains that result in desired outcomes. He was growing microbes inside ticks, having the ticks feed on animals, and then harvesting the microbes from the animals that exhibited the level of illness the military had requested. He was also simultaneously mixing bacteria and viruses inside ticks, leveraging the virus’s innate ability to manipulate bacterial genes in order to reproduce, and thus accelerating the rate of mutations and desirable new bacterial traits. In 1966, Fort Detrick’s Biological Subcommittee Munitions Advisory Group put this emerging research area at the top of its priorities, describing it as “Research in microbial genetics concerned with aspects of transformation, transduction, and recombination.”
The administrators at Rocky Mountain Lab needed a share of this military funding to stay open, so they took on some of the projects, including the development of dry Q fever incapacitating agent and preliminary research on the bioweapon potential of Rickettsia rickettsii [the microbe that produces Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever], the Rift Valley fever virus (a Phlebovirus), and two rickettsias that caused flea-borne and lice-borne typhus. . . .
Discussion
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