In Utne, Bennett Gordon sounded the below alarm derived from a Nature article. Following on the heels of yesterday’s chemical stockpile eradication facility news, it is disturbing and a sad step in the wrong direction. We’re still paying for and in fact simply trying to get rid of the entire last century’s worth of CBR weaponry, and here we go investing even more in even more dangerous weapons.
This highlights a distrubing trend: As more and more of our budget is devoted to military spending, there is less for pure science or other endeavors. Research funding thus become more and more skewed towards militaristic purposes since they are the largest pool of money. Of course then when the fruits of this militaristic research are then used on civilians, they can counterclaim that as reason for even more military funding. It is a very dangerous trend.
Disturbing New Chemical Weapons
World governments may be militarizing biology and other life sciences to make strange and disturbing weapons. A 2007 report by the British Medical Association warned of a “slippery slope” in using drugs as weapons that could lead to “intentional manipulation of peoples’ emotions, memories, immune responses or even fertility.”
Biologists are allowing this militarization to happen, according to Malcolm Dando in Nature, through an alarming lack of engagement. For example, research into the hormone oxytocin—which has been shown to increase people’s trust when taken in a nasal spray—could easily be co-opted by the military. Existing chemical weapons treaties are inadequate, according to Dando, and biologists need to step up and make sure their research isn’t used to harm.