>> That may be, but now we're about to work our ways around the checks 
>> and
>> balances. A pathogen that killed everything around it couldn't have 
>> spread
>> very far, in nature's scheme; it would have killed everything (in a 
>> local
>> environment) and then died.

Sort of.
If you have a host that you don't kill then you can target other 
things "as desired" (anthropomorphising).
A biological "gunship".
Ebola is a reasonable example.
Avian flu another.
SARS another.
(Each example imperfect but all OK).

But if you want to kill everything and still move around without using 
a gunship/bomber you need to separate the infectiousness from the 
payload delivery, have a long incubation period, make your infectious 
stage absolutely inobvious and have your delivery system reinvent 
itself regularly. All of which is what HIV does. It's only 
'weaknesses' are a low degree of infectiousness and a reasonably rapid 
payload to help stamp out response once it starts delivering.

We are, both incidentally, and almost certainly purposefully as well 
in any number of laboratories, helping nature produce such a 'weapon'. 
Stay tuned :-).

>>... Nature works with long "local tests", we don't.
>
> It used to do this. Unfortuantely with modern transportation things 
> can
> move around quite easily.

New infections typically cross the planet between major centres at 
just below the speed of sound (since Concorde went out of service).

> And unlike GM products there are no testing
> requirements.

There are no GM testing requirements that nature can't fit a barn door 
through (to badly mix metaphors). An utterly vital component in any 
protection/testing system is a belief by those involved that the 
protection system that they are part of is important and necessary. 
Few believe this. So the system is dead in the water. (Must be a year 
for bad metaphors). GM containment procedures in any number of high 
risk facilites are to varying extents constructively disregarded by 
staff. You may not ask me how I know, alas. Any sort of containment 
measures in field level activites simply cannot work - even if they 
are believed in by those involved, which they are not.


Doom, doom ... !!! :-)
Was the Balrog a GM product?



            RM


-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist