The world is “facing an existential threat to human survival” as terrorist groups acquire the resources to weaponise viruses and spread them on a mass cale using “insect drones”. Raina MacIntyre, a professor of Global Biosecurity at University of New South Wales, warned that the modern ease with which “DIY biology” can be carried out poses a seismic risk to the world population, suggesting that powerful terrorist organisations will be looking at how the world reacts to the coronavirus pandemic to plan their next attack.
As biotechnology advances at breakneck speed, Ms MacIntyre said “DIY biology” had exploded in the last decade.
She claimed that any organism can now be made entirely from scratch without the need to spend huge sums of money, opening up a world where cutting-edge bioweapons could be accessed by nefarious groups.
This would enable terrorist groups to potentially 3D print biological materials such as viruses, she said.
Terrifying armies of “insect drones” could then be unleashed to infect the world with their killer cargo – without anyone ever knowing.
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Ms MacIntyre told The Sun Online: “I think we are facing an existential threat to human survival through this kind of technology.
“It is not possible to ever eradicate an organism again because any organism can be made in a lab from scratch.
“We’ve got technology that is mind-blowing. You can buy a ‘lab-in-a-box’ kit online. Along with that is 3D printing of biological materials.
“There’s DIY biology labs all over the world, in every major city. Just as you have nefarious actors running drug labs in their kitchen, it is entirely possible to run a clandestine lab without anybody knowing. We should be worried about that.”
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In 2019, a report from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey warned 3D printers could help terrorists discreetly create a new devastating weapon on a global scale.
Researcher Robert Shaw told Scientific American it would be “something completely new, that no one here is really thinking of”.
While it was possible that mosquitos, ticks and other small bugs could be injected with artificially-made viruses, remote-controlled “insect drones” could also be used to stealthily deploy the bugs over vast areas to spread the pathogen.The insects then infect any person or animal they bite.
“Insect drones can be real insects that can be controlled with a radio transmitter or robot drones that are designed to look like an insect,” Ms MacIntyre explained.
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“They can be used for spying, but also for deploying biological weapons with precision targeting. Something like an insect drone could be used to target an individual or to release a highly contagious pathogen. The idea is these would not likely be detected.”
Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commander of the military’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment has also warned “bad actors” will be quick to realise that contagious outbreaks are the way to bring the world to its knees.
He said Britain must take action to protect against a Covid-type virus being used as a biological weapon.
He told the Daily Mail: “The spread of Covid has provided a template for terrorists, as well as Russia and China, for how effective a biological weapon could be.
“It is highly likely these states are researching biological weapons, which are also of significant appeal to terrorists.”
He added: “It is easy to manipulate a virus and there are laboratories in rogue and failing states where a biological weapon could be produced and brought into Britain, causing thousands of deaths.”