9-Misc: Non-lethal weapons research in the United States: GE anti-material weapons

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TITLE:  Non-Lethal Weapons Research in the United States:
        Genetically Engineered Anti-Material Weapons
SOURCE: The Sunshine Project, USA/Germany
        http://www.sunshine-project.org/
DATE:   March 14, 2002

------------------ archive: http://www.gene.ch/genet.html ------------------


Non-Lethal Weapons Research in the United States:
Genetically Engineered Anti-Material Weapons


Backgrounder Series
Number 9
March 2002
please download the whole report
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/bk9en.pdf


This paper is the second in a series of three reports on United States 
government research on chemical and biological non-lethal weapons. Shaken by 
experiences including its disastrous mission in Somalia, the US has concluded 
that it lacks appropriate weapons for peacekeeping and other "military 
operations other than war". To address this problem, the US has embarked on a 
program to develop new non-lethal weapons to control both armed enemies and 
civilians. Militaries and domestic law enforcement agencies in the United 
States and elsewhere are closely following this research and, in some 
instances, are participating. The non-lethal weapons research detailed here 
raises questions about protection of civil liberties, particularly freedoms of 
thought and expression, and US compliance with arms control agreements 
including the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological and Toxin Weapons 
Convention. The first report, on calmatives and malodorants (Backgrounder #8), 
was published in July 2001. The third report will be published later in 2002 
and will address new crowd control technologies.

Introduction

The use of genetic engineering to manipulate natural processes of microbial 
degradation is opening up new possibilities for the development of offensive 
biological weapons that destroy materials. Practically every natural or 
manufactured material in the world is potentially vulnerable. The development 
of this technology raises serious arms control concerns for the Biological and 
Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) and, because of the environmental dangers such 
organisms pose, for the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol, the principal 
international agreement on movement of genetically modified organisms.

The United States is the world leader in the development of genetically 
engineered anti-material organisms and a federal law prohibits their military 
use. The enforcement of this law is weak and under threat. A number of 
military projects are researching anti-material technology (generally for self-
described "protective purposes"), and different elements of the US armed 
forces and their advisors are in open disagreement about the desirability of 
developing anti-material biological weapons. Development including research by 
the US Army, Navy, and Marine Corps is proceeding virtually unchecked and, in 
some cases, in secret.

If governments fail to check the threat, US research threatens to carve an 
enormous exemption in the global prohibition on biological weapons. The 
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention must act to restate that its Article I 
contains no exemptions, and that anti-material weapons are prohibited.

Naturally occurring biodegradative microorganisms pose virtually no military 
threat. It is only though the use of genetic engineering that they can become 
viable weapons. Thus, the development of genetically engineered anti-material 
microbes underscores the tight relationship between the prohibition of 
biological weapons and the precautionary approach to regulation of 
biotechnology. The Convention on Biological Diversity, through its Biosafety 
Protocol, should develop approaches to control these ecologically unsound 
weapons and move to more tightly coordinate its work with the Biological and 
Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC).

Discussion of military abuse of genetic engineering typically concerns genetic 
"upgrading" of classic biowarfare agents, such as the creation of antibiotic 
resistant disease, 'invisible' anthrax, or new poxviruses. Genetically 
engineered anti-material agents ("GAMAs") are part of a second tier of 
biotechnological products that may be abused in warfare: new types of weapons 
that have been previously impossible due to technological constraints. A 
danger exists that these new technical possibilities will raise new interest 
in certain biological weapons and may thereby undermine governmentsÕ 
conviction to uphold and strengthen the BTWC.

Biodegradation and Bioremediation Science

Throughout the world a very large number or microorganisms exist with the 
ability to degrade materials. Many of these cause or contribute to familiar 
processes such as deterioration of food, wood, and the conversion of organic 
waste into soil. These microorganisms can be destructive; but are also used 
for beneficial purposes such as environmental cleanup. Less well known are 
microbes that contribute to the degradation of more permanent and seemingly 
impervious items even, for example, stone. Limestone ruins in Mexico and 
marble monuments in Italy (among others) are under ÔattackÕ by naturally 
occurring microorganisms.(1)

Modern products and infrastructure are not immune to microbial degradation 
and, in fact, attacks termed biodeterioration, biodegradation, biocorrosion, 
and biofouling are major problems in infrastructure worldwide. Examples 
include: Hydrocarbon-loving bacteria that bore holes in asphalt, leading to 
the deterioration of road and runway surfaces. (2) Oil-degrading microbes are 
of particular interest to industry, and hundreds of kinds of hydrocarbon-
eating bacteria and fungi have been identified. (3) Concrete is also 
susceptible, for example in the sewer systems of Houston, Texas, where 
destructive microbes are a significant problem. (4) Microorganisms can also 
damage most metals, including pipes used in industrial and public water 
systems, and structural members. (5) Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and other 
microorganisms are used to leech metals in "biomining". (6) Microbe induced 
degradation causes trouble in high-tech, inhospitable environments, for 
example in fuel systems (7) and composite materials of military aircraft, (8) 
as well as lubricants. (9)

These natural phenomena are an expensive and destructive nuisance, hindering 
the use or causing the loss of property and requiring expensive treatment and/
or replacement to restore the full and safe functioning of industrial systems. 
For this reason, civilian and military research is done to combat the effects 
of microbial degradation through resistant materials and biocide treatments.

Typically, in the human-built environment, including military applications, 
biodegradative microbes are more of a problem than a tool. Using them as 
weapons appears difficult, if possible at all. Although some materials are 
degraded relatively quickly by naturally occurring organisms (weeks or 
months), including hydrocarbons, plastics, and, in some cases, metals, the 
Mayan ruins of Mexico stand firm after centuries of microbiological assault. 
Degrading microorganisms can also be put to constructive uses, and there is 
significant scientific interest in the use of naturally occurring microbes to 
remove pollutants. Called bioremediation, this process works by recruiting 
microbes to metabolize waste or contaminants that are otherwise difficult to 
remove, for example, by introducing them into soils or water contaminated by 
an oil spill. In their natural state, bioremediation microbes are generally 
slow acting; but genetic engineering will increasingly be able to make them 
more efficient. Such microbes have cleanup potential; but also pose 
environmental dangers and open the avenue to microbial weapons to destroy 
materials.

In the United States (and other countries), heavily polluted sites are a 
common legacy of military and industrial operations. To address environmental 
problems including radiation, hydrocarbon, and chemical contamination, a 
number of US military projects seek to develop microbes to remove pollutants. 
For example, the explosive TNT (2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene) is both a pollutant and 
a component of many weapons. Bioremediation studies have identified several 
microbes that degrade TNT (10) and, reportedly, TNT inoculated with one of 
these loses 50% of its explosive charge every seven days, (11) a rate that 
would quickly render infected stores useless.

But such efficiency is exceptional. More often, the major difficulty 
encountered in bioremediation research is that naturally occurring organisms 
are inefficient, unpredictable, slow, or require very specific conditions. 
Even highly selected strains often fail to reach specifications required for 
bioremediation purposes. Because of these problems, some bioremediation 
scientists including US military researchers are turning to genetic 
engineering. The goal of this research is to develop specifically targeted, 
faster-acting, more predictable microbes. Research results to date reveal a 
field with potential to develop commercial genetically engineered products, 
but one which will take several years to mature and which is fraught with 
serious biosafety concerns. 

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| European NGO Network on Genetic Engineering |
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