Scientist in US fear the project allied insect will cause food insecurity in US

News24xx.com - The concern of US researchers for the project being carried out could spread of viruses from the genetically modified insects of chemical weapons. This creation could threaten American farms.

 

New project researchers at Pentagon discussed this. The project, known as the 'Insect Allied', is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

 

The news quoted from Live Science, on Tuesday, October 16th 2018, said there was an involvement in using gene editing techniques such as CRISPR to infect insects with a modified virus that could help make American plants more resilient.

 

If the cornfield is hit by unexpected droughts or is suddenly affected by a pathogen, for example, the Insect Allies might deploy their aphids to carry genetically modified viruses to slow the growth rate of corn.

 

DARPA in its official website said that 'targeted therapy' could apply in one growing season, potentially protecting American crop systems from food security threats such as diseases, floods, ice and even "threats introduced by the state or non-state actors

 

However, the scientific community team was skeptical, in a letter circulated on October 5th 2018 in a science journal, voicing concerns that the project could be easily exploited as a biological weapon, or at least considered as one by the international community.

 

"In our opinion, the justification is not clear enough. For example, why use insects? They can use spraying systems" said Silja Voeneky, professor of international law at the University of Freiburg in Germany to the Washington Post. According to him, the use of insects as a vector for spreading disease is a classic bio weapon.

 

Even so, Blake Bextine, program manager for the Allied Insects project, did not really question it. He acknowledged, when developing new and revolutionary technology, there is the potential for debate.

 

"But that's not what we do. We give positive properties to plants. We want to make sure we guarantee food security, because food security is national security in our eyes" he said.

 

The Insect Allied Project is still in the development stage. But at least four US universities, namely the Boyce Thompson Institute, Penn State University, Ohio State University and the University of Texas at Austin have received funding to conduct this research.

 

Bextine told The Washington Post, the project was an initial milestone to test whether fleas can infect corn stalks with a designated virus that causes fluorescence.

 

 

 

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