AP Online
11-15-1998
JERUSALEM (AP) _ Israel denied Sunday that it is trying to identify genes unique to Arabs in order to target them with a biological weapon that would leave Jews unharmed.

London's Sunday Times had reported that Israeli scientists were trying to create a genetically modified bacterium or virus that only attacks people who carry specific genes.

David Bar-Illan, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, rejected the report, saying such stories only proved ``that there is no limit to human gullibility and also no limit to the desire to sell newspapers.''

Asked if he was denying the report, Bar-Illan told The Associated Press, ``this is the kind of story that does not deserve denial.''

The report, attributed to unidentified Israeli military and Western intelligence sources, said the weapon is seen as Israel's response to the threat of chemical and biological warfare from Iraq and could be spread by air or through the water supply.

The newspaper said the program is based at the biological institute in Nes Tziyona, which it described as the main research facility for Israel's chemical and biological weapons. According to the report, researchers have pinpointed ``a characteristic in the genetic profile of certain Arab communities, particularly the Iraqi people.''

Officials at Porton Down, Britain's biological defense facility, told the newspaper such weapons were theoretically possible.

Genetic weapons that could be targeted at specific racial groups in a form of hi-tech ethnic warfare are to be investigated by the British Medical Association.

They do not exist but could be available in five to 10 years, the association said. Doctors fear developments in genetic therapy to cure disease might be turned to evil ends in the hands of a dictator.

Biological or chemical weapons could theoretically be targeted by addition of a gene marker to attack a specific part of the human body. The genetically engineered toxin might be sprayed into the air or added to food and water. If clusters of genes only seen in particular ethnic groups could be identified, it might be possible to devise an ethnic weapon. Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics at the BMA, said: "It is clearly a very frightening scenario. We are trying to prevent new weapons being developed and distributed. We want to know whether genetic weapons are feasible and how to control or stop them."

The investigation, commissioned by the association's board of science, was announced at the BMA's annual conference in Edinburgh.

It is due for completion in 12 months. Scientists expect to be able to produce the first genetically targeted drugs in five years. The drugs would repair faulty DNA within the cell and might be used to treat conditions such as diabetes and cystic fibrosis. Dr Nathanson said: "No one has been able to tell me why, if we can produce genetically targeted drugs with a good effect, we won't be able to produce similar drugs with a bad effect in the same time-scale."

The Human Genome Project, which is mapping the entire human genetic code, might produce enough information to allow specific genetic types to be identified. "We know the genes for hair colour, eye colour and height. If 90 per cent of the {enemy} have blue eyes, blond hair and are over six feet tall, that could be the cluster you are looking for." Certain blood types were commoner in different ethnic groups and could also be targeted, she said. Earlier the conference called for the manufacture and supply of instruments of torture to be banned after hearing of British companies that had sold the equipment abroad.

An iron foundry in Birmingham had produced leg and arm shackles and other companies had made hi-tech torture chambers, which used low-level noise to drive victims mad, and a mass gallows for export to Saudi Arabia, the conference was told. Investigations by Amnesty International had found a number of companies exploiting legal loopholes to manufacture and export the equipment.

James Barrett, a member of the BMA council and chairman of the medical group of Amnesty International, said shackles made by the Birmingham company were deliberately designed to crush the radial nerve in the arm when tightened. "They made good profits," he said.

Sandy Macara, chairman of the BMA, said: "There is nothing good about the profits made out of this trade".

The conference called for the creation of mechanisms in every country through which doctors could report human-rights abuses and torture.

It supported the Government's ban on land mines, which was announced last May following an appeal by Diana, Princess of Wales, and said the money saved on the defence budget should be used to clear them.

A former Clinton administration bioethics adviser warned this week that recent completion of the human genome makes development of biogenetic weapons nearly certain within five to 10 years unless governments intervene.

He called for an international commission to monitor genetic experiments that could lead to genocidal weapons.

"One could imagine that a state that had a particularly annoying ethnic minority, and if they could make it secret, they might be interested in trying it," said Jonathan Moreno, a former adviser to the Clinton administration who investigated radiation experiments on humans financed by the federal government.

He said biological weapons that target specific ethnic genes could remain undetected for years, until they have decreased the numbers of an entire population. They could, for example, affect birthrates and infant-mortality rates or increase the chances certain races will contract diseases.

"You could identify a unique antigen in a certain group of people and try to knock it out and create a blood disease, such as anemia," said Mr. Moreno, who is a University of Virginia biomedical ethics professor. He spoke this week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in San Francisco.

Last week, two teams of scientists published their rough draft of the human genome, which is like a map of the 3 billion chemical bases that act as building blocks for every cell of a person's body. The scientists came from the National Human Genome Research Institute and Bethesda-based Celera Genomics, a private company.

They trumpeted their achievement as a breakthrough expected to lead to cures for diseases and genetic problems that were considered incurable until now, such as Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

However, many geneticists say dangerous unknowns remain for the science.

"Like any new technology, genetics is going to raise all sorts of new potentials," said Mary Davidson, executive director of the Genetic Alliance, a Washington-based coalition that advocates genetic research for medical purposes. "And with it, issues that we don't even see yet."

The British Medical Association issued similar warnings in a 1999 report on the dangers of genetic engineering.

Mr. Moreno mentioned as an example recent testimony in the trial of a former apartheid-era biological researcher for the South Africa Defense Force. The testimony indicated that the South African military tried to develop biological weapons that could be used against the black population.

They were particularly interested in finding ways to sterilize black women, he said.

Rumors of the research have been repeatedly denied by the South African government since the 1970s.

The availability of scientific information and materials could make biogenetic weapons development easy to conceal, Mr. Moreno said.

"Genocide does have an especially offensive ring to it," he said. "It's not the sort of thing that even an outlaw government would want known."

The first evidence would surface after it was too late to stop the biological agent's rampage through a population.

"That would be the most attractive sterilization option," Mr. Moreno said. "I think that in the next five to 10 years, attempts will be made. We already have the human genome on the Web."

United Press International

11-15-1998

Report: Israel wants 'ethno-bomb'

LONDON, Nov. 15 (UPI) _ There are various publications supporting the
claim in a British newspaper that Israel is working on a biological
weapon that will target its victims by their ethnic origin.

The Sunday Times published its report today based on what it described
as Israeli and western intelligence sources.

But the so-called ``ethno-bomb'' claims have earned further credence in
Foreign Report, a publication by the Jane's organization which monitors
and reports on security and defense matters.

Foreign Report in October cited unnamed South African sources saying
Israeli scientists used South African research in a bid to develop an
``ethnic bullet'' against Arabs.

The head of a South African chemical and biological warfare plant, Dr.
Daan Goosen, said his team was ordered in the 1980s to develop a
``pigmentation weapon'' to target only black people.

He said the team discussed spreading a disease in beer, maize or even
vaccinations but never managed to develop one.

Foreign Report says Israelis discovered specific aspects of the Arab
genetic make-up that could be used to produce such a biological weapon
by researching ``Jews of Arab origin, especially Iraqis.''

The British Medical Association has become so concerned about the
lethal potential of genetically based biological weapons that it has
opened an investigation, which is due to report in January.

The report in today's Sunday Times says Israeli scientists are seeking
to identify genes to produce an ``ethno-bomb,'' that would kill through
a genetically modified bacterium or virus.

According to the British news report, the intention is to use the
ability of viruses and certain bacteria to alter the DNA inside their
host's living cells.

The Sunday Times report says ``The scientists are trying to engineer
deadly micro-organisms that attack only those bearing the distinctive
genes.''

According to the Sunday Times, the effort is part of Israel's reaction
to reports of research and production of chemical and biological
weapons in Iraq.

The newspaper identified the site of the Israeli research as Nes
Tziyona.

Quoting an unnamed scientist at the facility, the newspaper reported
him as saying, ``They have, however, succeeded in pinpointing a
particular characteristic in the genetic profile of certain Arab
communities, particularly the Iraqi people.''

A spokesman at Porton Down, Britain's biological defense establishment,
acknowledged last week that such weapons were theoretically possible.

The spokesman said, ``We have reached a point now where there is an
obvious need for an international convention to control biological
weapons.''
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