World's most deadly bugs... in the hands of terrorists

EW technology that would give terrorists the power to create deadly bacteria and viruses from scratch is only years away from completion and threatens to make existing controls on biological weapons obsolete, experts warned yesterday.

Synthetic biology is an emerging field that allows scientists to build micro-organisms from simple genetic material, in theory enabling the creation of deadly pathogens such as ebola or anthrax without access to existing stockpiles of the bugs.

The technology could also allow terrorists orscientists in rogue states to jumble the genetic signature of the bugs in order to render them unrecognisable to health experts dealing with an outbreak, potentially delaying treatment and preventing authorities from tracing the origin of an attack.The technology could also allow terrorists or

The concerns were raised at a biosecurity conference at Edinburgh University yesterday in the run-up to a major review of the Biological Weapons Convention in Geneva later this month.