John Clark wrote:
>
> In the August "Nature Medicine" is an article by Gary J Nabel, it demonstrates
> that the extraordinary lethality of the Ebola virus is caused by a certain
> glycoprotein produced by the virus. The really interesting thing is the way
> he did it, he removed the Ebola gene for this glycoprotein and used genetic
> engineering to insert it into the virus that causes the common cold. Intact
> human blood vessels were then exposed to this modified cold virus. Within
> 48 hours this former virus milquetoast caused the human tissue to turn into
> stinky gunkey sludge just like mighty Ebola itself.
>
> I haven't heard any protests from the anti genetics people, I guess they're too
> busy protecting the world from killer tomatoes, but I got to tell you this scares
> the hell out of me. I'm sure they took elaborate precautions to prevent this thing from
> getting out, but holly shit! Imagine a virus that's airborn and as contagious as the
> common cold, that has no vaccine or any other treatment, and kills 90% of those
> infected in less than 48 hours in a manner gruesome enough for any horror movie.
> I sure hope there is something about this experiment I don't understand.
OUtside of the fact that he violated a number of international laws against
research into biological weapons? I'm surprised nobody has charged him with
crimes against humanity yet. I would not be surprised if this guy doesn't take a
long, secret, sabbatical someplace where there are nice BIG locks on the doors,
and guys in black uniforms with nice big guns guarding the place. I sure as hell
hope he did not publish his technique or identify the gene responsible.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:35:41 MDT