From: Damien Broderick (damienb@unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Thu Aug 28 2003 - 05:27:40 MDT
And speaking of the Great Filter:
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s934318.htm
It’s the next GM. For the last
ten years, scientists have been
working behind closed doors to
genetically engineer viruses.
Now, they’re seeking
permission to let them out.
Their dream is that these
viruses will provide a humane,
self spreading means of
controlling some of our worst
pests – mice, foxes and rabbits.
The trouble is, Australia isn’t
the only country that’s created
a GM virus. In Spain, they’ve
also developed a rabbit virus.
And it does the opposite of
ours. The Spanish want to save
their rabbits, which are
threatened by myxomatosis and
calicivirus. So they’ve engineered a virus to act as a vaccine against
these rabbit killers. In New Zealand, they’re working on a genetically
modified organism to eradicate possums. What if these viruses got
here, or our virus got there? Have we tried to solve a local problem,
only to create a global one? These are some of the questions
scientists are asking as Australia decides whether or not to
release the
GM viruses
See the full piece at the link.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Aug 28 2003 - 05:36:49 MDT