{"id":52062,"date":"2017-04-17T08:02:56","date_gmt":"2017-04-17T15:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/we-must-prepare-for-crispr-bioterror-threats"},"modified":"2017-04-17T08:02:56","modified_gmt":"2017-04-17T15:02:56","slug":"we-must-prepare-for-crispr-bioterror-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/we-must-prepare-for-crispr-bioterror-threats","title":{"rendered":"We Must Prepare for CRISPR Bioterror Threats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jAhjPd4uNFY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An advisory council has urged the U.S. to establish a new body that creates plans for national biodefense and to set aside a $2 billion standby fund to address emerging bioterror threats.<\/li>\n<li>As gene editing technology advances, the potential for its use as a weapon increases, and preparing for such threats before they happen is of the utmost importance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Though the technology promises seemingly innumerable ways to positively impact human life, gene editing is truly a double-edged sword, with nearly as many potentially negative consequences as benefits. Now, an advisory council to President Obama is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/s\/602934\/obama-advisers-urge-action-against-crispr-bioterror-threat\/\" target=\"_blank\">urging the government<\/a> to start creating countermeasures for the negative use of emerging biotechnologies.<\/p>\n<p>This month, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/administration\/eop\/ostp\/pcast\" target=\"_blank\">President\u2019s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)<\/a> wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/microsites\/ostp\/PCAST\/pcast_biodefense_letter_report_final.pdf\">a letter<\/a> to President Obama <a href=\"http:\/\/motherboard.vice.com\/read\/obamas-science-advisors-are-worried-about-future-crispr-terrorism\">recommending measures<\/a> to address this potential for harm using new technologies. It advocates funding new research into antibiotic and antiviral drugs to combat resistance and having a $250 million fund for the stockpiling of vaccines.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Link: <a href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/we-must-prepare-for-crispr-bioterror-threat\/\">https:\/\/futurism.com\/we-must-prepare-for-crispr-bioterror-threat\/<\/a> --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An advisory council has urged the U.S. to establish a new body that creates plans for national biodefense and to set aside a $2 billion standby fund to address emerging bioterror threats. As gene editing technology advances, the potential for its use as a weapon increases, and preparing for such threats before they happen is [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":413,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1902,11,412,1490],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bioengineering","category-biotech-medical","category-genetics","category-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/413"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52062\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}