A top official with the US' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced the Pentagon is considering future gene editing research to better aid troops' ability to protect themselves from biological and chemical warfare.
On Monday, DARPA Director Steven Walker revealed that US military service may become a bit more invasive if researchers are able to successfully edit and control soldiers' genomes for protective purposes.
“Why is DARPA doing this? [To] protect a soldier on the battlefield from chemical weapons and biological weapons by controlling their genome – having the genome produce proteins that would automatically protect the soldier from the inside out,” Walker explained while speaking on a panel at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Monday.
The director acknowledged that the idea may sound out of left field, but insisted that the agency's gene editing would be primarily focused on protecting service members rather than attempting to enhance them – at least in its initial stages.
“All these technologies, they are dual use. You can use them for good, and you can use them for evil. DARPA is about using them for good to protect our warfighters,” the official claimed, according to the US Department of Defense release.
If the research bears fruit, DARPA also believes that possessing the ability to edit soldiers' genomes would prove handy in giving the US military an alternative to vaccines.
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