‘Unprecedented risk’: Scientists call for a halt to research on ‘mirror life’
Renowned scientists have called for an immediate halt to research on "mirror life" microbes, warning that they could have catastrophic consequences for the planet.
The international group, which includes Nobel Prize laureates and other experts, cautioned that these bacteria—engineered from mirrored versions of naturally occurring molecules—could infiltrate the environment and bypass the immune systems of humans or animals.
Although creating a mirror virus would take at least a decade, a new assessment by scientific experts reveals that these organisms could pose devastating risks.
Researchers have already developed large functional mirror molecules to study them in more detail.
"The threat we’re talking about is unprecedented. Mirror bacteria would likely evade many human, animal and plant immune system responses and in each case would cause lethal infections that would spread without check," said Prof Vaughn Cooper, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Pittsburgh.
(QG - Source: The Guardian / Picture: © Unsplash)