Max Planck Society  January 6, 2022 An evidence-based norm of virologists is that laboratory modifications of self-spreading viruses are genetically too unstable to be used safely and predictably outside contained facilities. According to an international team of researchers (UK, South Africa, Germany, USA – University of Souhern California) that norm now seems to be challenged. A range of transformational self-spreading applications have been put forward in recent years. In agriculture, for example, self-spreading viruses have been proposed as insecticides, or as vectors to modify planted crops. In health care, self-spreading viruses have been promoted as vaccines. Yet, glossed over by […]