The Age of Bioengineered Viral Pandemics and Collapse
Abstract
"Garden variety" flus now kill more than 40 thousand Americans each year. Ebola is now ravaging West Africans and arriving on our shores with ominous prospects. These bio threats should be of even greater concern to Americans than they are. But new technologies like bioengineering may soon actually enable a small terrorist group like ISIL, or even one dedicated individual, to modify and release a new virus that could cause both a pandemic and, as people react, a collapse in economic activity and possibly law and order. A host of experts say such bioengineered viral pandemics (BVP) are inevitable. Moreover, they say they are not a future threat but rather a present risk that is growing rapidly since it is increasingly easy to modify an existing pathogen to make it more lethal or transmissible. After a first pandemic of this kind plays out, there could be significant, possibly revolutionary changes in our economy, military, and foreign policy. This article explains why this bleak coming Age of BVP is almost upon us, and, more puzzling, why this impending disaster is so little addressed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- AD1123716
Entities
People
- Drew Miller
Organizations
- Institute for Defense Analyses