The deployment of insects would mark a break from the commonly used procedure of genetic modification of seeds for crops such as corn and soybeans, before they become plants.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a branch of the US Department of Defense, says its goal is to protect the country's food supplies from threats such as drought, crop diseases, and bioterrorism by using insects to infect humans. plants with viruses that protect them.
"Food security is national security," said Blake Bextine, who runs the project, two years old.
The State Department stated that the project had peaceful aims and did not violate the Biological Weapons Convention. The US Department of Agriculture said its scientists were part of the research, which is conducted in confined laboratories.
The technology could work in different ways. In the first phase, aphids – tiny insects that feed by sucking the sap of plants – plants infected with a virus that temporarily caused a stroke. But researchers are also trying to see if viruses can alter the plant's genes to withstand hazards throughout the life of the plant.
Nevertheless, the research raises concerns.
"They are talking about a massive release of genetic modification by means of insects," said Gregory Kaebnick, an ethicist at the Hastings Center's Bioethics Research Institute in Garrison, in the state. from New York, who studied genetic modification. He was not part of the team that drafted the scientific paper, but said that the technology of Insect Allies could become destructive.
Kaebnick asked how viruses and insects carrying them could be controlled. "When you talk about very small things – insects and microbes – it may be impossible to remove them" once they are introduced into farmers' fields, he said.
Dr. David Relman, professor of medicine and microbiology at Stanford, who advised the Obama administration on biodefense but is not part of DARPA research, said the project could play a role in Long-time fears of countries trying to harm their crops.
Also according to Relman, this technology could potentially help farmers fight against "a pest plant virus moving in the plains" or to protect crops from bioterrorism. As insects often spread crop diseases, Mr. Relman said that DARPA was trying to use the biology of these insects to "recruit them as allies" in the propagation of protective traits.
Although it is not a well-known name, DARPA has contributed to the development of the Internet and its mission is to search for potentially new technologies. The agency announced the project Insect Allies in 2016.
Guy Reeves, co-author of the Science and Biology article at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany, said that technology was more practical as a weapon – to kill plants – than as an agricultural tool . As a result, he said, DARPA could send an alarming message, whatever its intentions.
