Mousacre

[Mighty_Emperor]

Mouse Virus or Bioweapon?

The announcement by Australian scientists that they have accidentally created a lethal mouse virus has raised fears that the technique might be used to create biological weapons. The scientists themselves have called for international conventions on biological weapons to be tightened. The researchers were not intending to produce a fatal virus but, as Toby Murcott of BBC Science reports, genetic manipulation does have the potential to spring major surprises.

Mousepox carrier
The researchers, based in Canberra, Australia, were hoping to genetically engineer the mousepox virus to produce a contraceptive vaccine to control mouse populations. Instead they made the virus so virulent that it killed all of the mice in the experiment within nine days of them being injected.

Ron Jackson of CSIRO’S wildlife division and Ian Ramshaw from the Australian National University used the mousepox virus as a vehicle for transporting egg proteins into mice. Their experiment revolved around the principle that if they could add a gene, known for its ability to stimulate antibodies, to the mice then they may be able to simulate antibodies against the mouse eggs and so cause the animals to be infertile.

Whilst they were aware that the mousepox virus could cause symptoms in the mice, they believed them to be minor. However once the IL-4 gene was added the researchers were surprised by the totally unexpected result.

Controls
There are many hundreds of laboratories around the world performing thousands of different types of genetic manipulation experiments on a multitude of different organisms. Research organisations in most countries impose very strict controls on the way these experiments are conducted.

Any researchers wanting to do such work have to assess the potential risk of their experiments and consider the worst case scenario. If the risk is thought to be too high the work will not proceed. However this lethal mouse virus was a genuine accident that no one involved predicted.

Virus expert Professor John Oxford says he would not have expected this result. He comments:


‘Most manipulations of viruses make them less virulent not more.’

He adds, though, that while rare, it is inevitable that unpredictable events will occur, which is why such experiments are closely monitored and performed in isolated laboratories.

Danger
Speaking to the New Scientist magazine, researcher Ron Jackson commented on the potential that the mousepox research might have if it fell into the wrong hands:

‘It would be safe to assume that if some idiot did put human IL-4 into human smallpox they’d increase the lethality quite dramatically…Seeing the consequences of what happened in the mice, I wouldn’t want to be the one who’d want to do the experiment.’

The potential for abuse of this discovery is real but virus expert, Professor Oxford, argues that to prevent all similar research would hinder efforts to tackle disease. Similarly concerns have been raised concerning publishing such findings and the freedom of the scientific press.

Before publishing their study the mousepox researchers consulted the Australian Department of Defence. The researchers reasons for wanting to publish were found to be justified when they explained that they wanted to make the scientific community aware that creating severe organisms can happen by accident. A full report is due to appear in the Journal of Virology in February.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sci_tech/highlights/010117_mousepox.shtml

for the more straightforward take on this:

GM mouse virus set to end plagues

By Amanda Hodge, Environment writer
April 07, 2003

AUSTRALIAN scientists have developed the world's first genetically modified mouse virus in the hope of eliminating mouse plagues.

The modified herpes virus renders female mice infertile for their 200-day average lifespan by blocking sperm from entering their eggs.

The virus, transmitted during mating, was developed by the Co-operative Research Centre for Pests and is the first genetically modified biological pest control tool in the world.

Director Tony Peacock said the centre hoped to begin trials of the virus next year but first had to gain approval from the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator.

"There's no doubt we can make mice infertile in the lab. The big question is can we make fields of mice infertile and stop plagues," Dr Peacock said yesterday. "A bad mouse plague can cost over 0 million in lost crops, not to mention the human impact. Even a moderate plague will knock million off the nation's income, and the rural sector needs all the help it can get as it recovers from drought."

Dr Peacock, also working on methods to eradicate foxes in Tasmania after a small colony was discovered in 2001 on the previously fox-free island, said he expected ferocious debate on the measure, and some community opposition.

But he said the mouse herpes was among the most studied and best understood viruses in modern medicine and could potentially save rural Australia billions of dollars. On average, Australia suffered a major mouse plague every four years, usually at the end of a drought.

Mice are sexually prolific and one breeding mouse and its mate can produce 500 progeny in 21 weeks. A recent study by the CSIRO determined that the calici virus, released into Australia almost 10 years ago to control rabbits, had delivered more than billion of value to agricultural industries.

The mouse virus news coincided yesterday with a federal government announcement of a further 0,000 for CSIRO work on eradicating the cane toad, one of the nation's most destructive introduced pests.

The South American native, introduced in the 1930s to eradicate the sugar cane beetle, reached and infiltrated the Northern Territory's Kakadu National Park in early 2001.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,6248507%5E27703,00.html

http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6225845%5E421,00.html

See also:

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/20398/newsDate/8-Apr-2003/story.htm

and alternative views:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~rabbit/mousegevi.htm

I know we hear about GM scare stories (and Lovelock threw out a GM end of the world type scenario in is books with some kind of all consuming algal mat) but this sounds the most directly threatening I have heard in a while - not only could it eventually eliminate all mice (they reckon it will spread out of Australia they just don't know how far) but it might jump the species barrier and infect people ().

Now I believe we could do with a little thinning of the numbers of people on this planet (and perhaps that is the ultimate plan) but this seems so 'crude'.

Emps