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RECENT BIOTERRORISM I. In 1984, the Rajneeshees poisoned more than 750 by contaminating Oregon restaurants with Salmonella. Between 1990 and 1995 the Aum Shinrikyo cult ... used anthrax and botulism. In April 1990, they used aerosol sprayers to release liquid botulinum toxin on the Diet, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, and two U.S. naval bases and the airport in Narita. Between June and August of 1993, the Aum Shinrikyo sprayed gallons of liquid anthrax in downtown Tokyo. http://www.ipcs.org/article/terrorism/bio-terror-grave-implications-of-synthetic-biology-3242.html View in LinkedIn

BIO-THEFT: a useful review from a legal perspective. " " http://lnkd.in/d5iUajf View in LinkedIn

BIOWARFARE IS NOT NEW. Bubonic plague was used in 1346 by the Tartars while besieging the city of Kaffa. The plague erupted among the Tartars and they catapulted plague corpses over the city walls. The inhabitants fled. The British used smallpox to infect the American Indians in the mid 18th century. In WWII, Germany spread equine glanders in the US, UK, Russia, France, and Rumania, to wipe out the horses, and caused supply chain delays. The Geneva Convention of 1925 outlawed biological weapons in warfare although Japan and the US did not agree until 1970 and 1975 respectively. " " http:/http://lnkd.in/d6eK54y cards-and-risks-bioterrorism/ View in LinkedIn

GOVERNMENT DNA DATABASES CAN BE HACKED as another source for biopiracy. "The international police agency Interpol listed 54 nations with national police DNA databases in 2009, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany and China. Brazil and India have since announced plans to join the club, and the United Arab Emirates intends to build the world's first database of an entire national population."" " http://lnkd.in/dZFiTvB View in LinkedIn

BIOWARFARE AND BIOTERRORISM are very heavy duty subjects, and I apologize ahead of time for the truly disturbing nature of these topics. But if we are to finger-wag the biopunkers and the ethics of synthetic biology, we should at least view this in context, and the reality is that unethical work (uniformed consent, to put it mildly), and careless work (vast contamination, leaks, blunders) has been secretly conducted by many nations in the name of security. Sit tight and endure. View in LinkedIn

DNA OR GENE THEFT. "Great Britain criminalized the taking of DNA without consent in 2006 ... Australia's legislature debated a two year jail sentence for such theft in 2008. In the United States, eight states currently have criminal or civil prohibitions on such nonconsensual appropriation of genetic materials. Lawsuits against "gene snatchers" are permitted in Minnesota, New Hampshire and New Mexico. In jurisdictions where such nonconsentual taking of DNA is illegal, exceptions are generally made for law enforcement."" " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_theft View in LinkedIn

BIOTERRORISM. "Individuals could be singled out by infecting them with agents that produce chronic fatigue, reducing their ability to function. Organisations could be precision-targeted through contamination of delivered mail, environmental systems or cafeterias. Wider areas could be affected by releasing agents into municipal water supplies, into the air using crop-dusting equipment or via foodstuffs delivered to the region."" " http://lnkd.in/dkjx-Yi View in LinkedIn

YOUR DNA on childhood letters, gifts, artifacts are your enduring legacy. We could of course sequence the DNA of Michelangelo from his personal writings and even recreate his progeny. View in LinkedIn

SYNBIOLOGY AHEAD OF CURVE."Combined with breakthroughs in another area of biology, "gain-of-function" research, the synthetic genomics field has spawned a dizzying array of new possibilities, challenges, and national security threats ... the global bioterrorism and biosecurity establishment remains well behind the curve, mired in antiquated notions about what threats are important and how best to counter them."" " http://lnkd.in/dyGvsfW View in LinkedIn

EXTINCT DISEASES INVESTIGATED. "Legitimate scientists have recreated other pathogenic viruses in the laboratory, including a SARS-like virus and the formerly extinct strain of influenza virus responsible for the 1918-19 “Spanish Flu” pandemic, which is estimated to have infected a third of the world population and killed three to five percent." A 30,000 year old dormant giant virus, Pithovirus sibericum, was resurrected from Siberian permafrost that was, surprisingly, still infective."" " http://lnkd.in/dF_rGWt http:/http://lnkd.in/dzX9u4Z View in LinkedIn