Forsvarsudvalget 2016-17
FOU Alm.del Bilag 71
Offentligt
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Bill Gates: Terrorists could wipe out 30
million people by weaponising a disease
such as smallpox
Bill Gates warns a bioterrorist attack could be deadlier than a nuclear
bomb CREDIT: DAVID ROSE
Sarah Knapton,
SCIENCE EDITOR
19 APRIL 2017 • 10:00PM
A
bioterrorist attack which could wipe out 30 million people is becoming increasingly
likely because it is easier than ever to create and spread deadly pathogens, Bill Gates has
warned.
The Microsoft founder,
who was speaking before a speech at the
Royal United Services
Institute in London
(RUSI), warned that an outbreak of a lethal respiratory virus such
as smallpox would be more dangerous than even a nuclear attack.
Mr Gates, whose charitable foundation funds research into quickly spotting outbreaks,
said it was more important than ever to help foreign countries monitor diseases to
prevent a global tragedy.
“Bioterrorism is a much larger risk than a pandemic,” he said.
“All these advances in biology have made it far easier for a terrorist to recreate smallpox,
which is a highly fatal pathogen, where there is essentially no immunity remaining at
this point.
“When you are thinking about things that could cause in excess of 10 million deaths,
even something tragic like a nuclear weapons incident wouldn’t get to that level. So the
greatest risk is from a natural epidemic or an intentionally caused infection bioterrorism
events.
 FOU, Alm.del - 2016-17 - Bilag 71: Materiale fra foretræde 20/4-17 om mulighed for at opgradere det biologiske beredskab, fra Bo Bredsgaard-Lund, MSLGroup
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“Whether the next epidemic is unleashed by a quirk of nature or the hand of terrorist,
scientists say a fast-moving airborne pathogen could kill more than 30 million people in
less than a year. So the world does need to think about this.”
Gates said UK foreign aid is a 'long-term investment in the health of British
citizens'CREDIT: DAVID ROSE
Last year the Nuffield Council of Bioethics warned that
‘garage scientists’ could unleash
dangerous genetically modified organismsinto
the environment using unregulated
technology which is already available online.
Chemistry kits which allow genetic editing can already be bought online for under £100.
Scientists are concerned that a new technique, called Crispr, is now so cheap and widely
available that amateurs will start experimenting at home, or in school labs.
The technique works like genetic scissors to cut away DNA code and replace it with new
genes. It has been hailed as one the most significant scientific breakthroughs in recent
years, but there are fears that in the wrong hands, the procedure could unleash
dangerous strains of bacteria or other organisms. Kits to make E.coli resistant to
antibiotics are already for sale on the internet.
 FOU, Alm.del - 2016-17 - Bilag 71: Materiale fra foretræde 20/4-17 om mulighed for at opgradere det biologiske beredskab, fra Bo Bredsgaard-Lund, MSLGroup
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A pandemic on a larger scale than Ebola is coming, the Microsoft tycoon
believes CREDIT:ANADOLU AGENCY
Mr Gates said that today’s widespread global travel mean that a future pandemic could
be even more deadly than the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1919 which killed up to 100
million people.
“We will have epidemics in the next 20 years far worse than
the ebola epidemic,
or
the
Zika epidemic
and there is some chance it would be a form of flu,” he said.
“Something that is human-to-human respiratory that is like a measles or a flu or
smallpox, that you need just one person on the bus or plane or the airport and you get
huge things. A health crisis somewhere is a health crisis everywhere.
“So the scariest thing is something like the 1919 flu which really spreads everywhere and
because people are moving around more it’s easier for it to spread than back in 1919. If
1919 came back we have no immunity to that strain.”
Mr Gates urged Theresa May to maintain the 0.7 per cent GDP foreign aid pledge.
“The UK's foreign aid investments are, in fact, long term investments in the health and
security of British citizens here at home," he added.
 FOU, Alm.del - 2016-17 - Bilag 71: Materiale fra foretræde 20/4-17 om mulighed for at opgradere det biologiske beredskab, fra Bo Bredsgaard-Lund, MSLGroup
“A disease is more likely to become an epidemic when countries are unstable and have
no functioning health system. We can’t build a wall to hold back the next global
epidemic.”