{"id":120102,"date":"2018-10-15T12:00:41","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T11:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=120102"},"modified":"2018-10-22T11:20:20","modified_gmt":"2018-10-22T10:20:20","slug":"the-pentagons-insect-army","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/10\/the-pentagons-insect-army\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pentagon\u2019s Insect Army"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swarms of insects, transporting genetically modified infectious viruses, attack the agricultural crops of a country and destroy its food production \u2013 this is not a science-fiction scenario, but a plan that is actually being prepared by DARPA, the Pentagon\u2019s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

10 Oct 2018 – <\/em>Five scientists from one French and two German universities have revealed this information in Science, one of the world\u2019s most prestigious scientific revues. In their editorial, published on 5 October, they cast serious doubt on the idea that DARPA\u2019s research, entitled \u201cinsect allies\u201d was intended only for the use declared by the Agency \u2013 the protection of US agriculture against pathogens by using insects as the vectors of genetically modified infectious viruses. These viruses are transmitted to plants and modify their chromosomes. This capacity \u2013 as declared by the five scientists \u2013 appears to be \u201cvery limited\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, within the scientific milieu, the programme is \u201cwidely perceived as an effort to develop biological agents for hostile purposes and their means of delivery\u201d, in other words \u201ca new form of biological weapon\u201d. This violates the Biological Weapons Convention, which came into effect in 1975, but which has remained inactive mainly due to the refusal of the USA to accept inspections of their own laboratories.<\/p>\n

The five scientists specify that \u201ceasy simplifications could be used to generate a new class of biological weapons, weapons that would be extremely transmissible to susceptible crop species due to insect dispersion as the means of delivery\u201d.<\/p>\n

DARPA\u2019s \u201cInsect Allied\u201d Project. Deployment of Insects under a US Military Program Could be Seen as Bioweapon<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This scenario of an attack on agricultural cultures in Russia, China and other countries, led by the Pentagon with swarms of insects transporting the virus, is not a science-fiction fable. DARPA\u2019s programme is not the only one to use insects as a weapon of war. The US Office of Naval Research has asked for research from Washington University in St Louis in order to transform locusts into biological drones.<\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_RXW_sga-Ks&t=12s<\/p>\n

Source: PandoraTV<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Using an electrode implanted in its brain and a tiny transmitter on the insect\u2019s back, the on-the-ground operator can decipher what the locust\u2019s antennae are picking up. These insects have an olfactive capacity capable of instantaneously perceiving various types of chemical substances in the air \u2013 which enables the identification of stores of explosives and other sites which can be hit by air or missile attacks.<\/p>\n

Even more frightening scenarios were mentioned in the editorial by the five scientists in Science magazine. DARPA\u2019s programme \u2013 they emphasise \u2013 is the first programme concerning the development of genetically modified viruses which can be spread throughout the environment, and which could infect other organisms \u201cnot only in agriculture\u201d. In other words, human beings could be listed among the organisms potentially affected by the insect-borne infectious viruses.<\/p>\n

We know that during the Cold War, in the laboratories of the US and other nations, research on bacteria and viruses was carried out \u2013 when these agents are spread by insects (lice, flies, ticks), they can trigger epidemics in the enemy nation. Among them are the Yersinia Pestis bacteria, the cause of the bubonic plague (the terrifying \u00ab Black Death \u00bb of the Middle Ages) and the Ebola virus, which is both contagious and lethal.<\/p>\n

With the techniques available today, it is possible to produce new types of pathogens, spread by insects, for which the targeted population would have no defence.<\/p>\n

The \u201cplagues\u201d which in the Biblical narrative were sent by God to strike Egypt with enormous swarms of mosquitoes, flies and locusts, can today really be sent by human beings to strike the whole world. This time, we are not being warned by prophets, but by scientists who have retained their humanity.<\/p>\n

____________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Manlio Dinucci<\/em>, geographer and geopolitical scientist. In the 1980s, he directed the magazine <\/em>Lotta per la Pace (born from “Appeal against the installation of nuclear missiles in Italy”) and was Executive Director for Italy of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, winner of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. <\/em>His latest books are <\/em>L\u2019arte della guerra \/ Annali della strategia Usa\/Nato 1990-2016, Zambon 2016; <\/em>Guerra Nucleare Il Giorno Prima, Zambon Editore; 2017.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article was originally published in Italian on Il Manifesto.<\/em><\/p>\n

Translated by\u00a0Pete Kimberley<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 globalresearch.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10 Oct 2018 – Swarms of insects, transporting genetically modified infectious viruses, attack the agricultural crops of a country and destroy its food production \u2013 this is not a science-fiction scenario, but a plan that is actually being prepared by DARPA, the Pentagon\u2019s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":120103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,68,65,57,140,145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-weapons-of-mass-destruction","category-anglo-america","category-militarism","category-organic-gmo-genetic-engineering","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}