Weaponising microbes for peace
Abstract There is much human disadvantage and unmet need in the world, including deficits in basic resources and services considered to be human rights, such as drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, healthy nutrition, access to basic healthcare, and a clean environment. Furthermore, there are subs...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2023-06-01
|
| Series: | Microbial Biotechnology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.14224 |
| _version_ | 1797818587495268352 |
|---|---|
| author | Shailly Anand John E. Hallsworth James Timmis Willy Verstraete Arturo Casadevall Juan Luis Ramos Utkarsh Sood Roshan Kumar Princy Hira Charu Dogra Rawat Abhilash Kumar Sukanya Lal Rup Lal Kenneth Timmis |
| author_facet | Shailly Anand John E. Hallsworth James Timmis Willy Verstraete Arturo Casadevall Juan Luis Ramos Utkarsh Sood Roshan Kumar Princy Hira Charu Dogra Rawat Abhilash Kumar Sukanya Lal Rup Lal Kenneth Timmis |
| author_sort | Shailly Anand |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract There is much human disadvantage and unmet need in the world, including deficits in basic resources and services considered to be human rights, such as drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, healthy nutrition, access to basic healthcare, and a clean environment. Furthermore, there are substantive asymmetries in the distribution of key resources among peoples. These deficits and asymmetries can lead to local and regional crises among peoples competing for limited resources, which, in turn, can become sources of discontent and conflict. Such conflicts have the potential to escalate into regional wars and even lead to global instability. Ergo: in addition to moral and ethical imperatives to level up, to ensure that all peoples have basic resources and services essential for healthy living and to reduce inequalities, all nations have a self‐interest to pursue with determination all available avenues to promote peace through reducing sources of conflicts in the world. Microorganisms and pertinent microbial technologies have unique and exceptional abilities to provide, or contribute to the provision of, basic resources and services that are lacking in many parts of the world, and thereby address key deficits that might constitute sources of conflict. However, the deployment of such technologies to this end is seriously underexploited. Here, we highlight some of the key available and emerging technologies that demand greater consideration and exploitation in endeavours to eliminate unnecessary deprivations, enable healthy lives of all and remove preventable grounds for competition over limited resources that can escalate into conflicts in the world. We exhort central actors: microbiologists, funding agencies and philanthropic organisations, politicians worldwide and international governmental and non‐governmental organisations, to engage – in full partnership – with all relevant stakeholders, to ‘weaponise’ microbes and microbial technologies to fight resource deficits and asymmetries, in particular among the most vulnerable populations, and thereby create humanitarian conditions more conducive to harmony and peace. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:10:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b3ff26e52b474fa69e9f2d7db7a78e12 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1751-7915 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:10:13Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microbial Biotechnology |
| spelling | doaj.art-b3ff26e52b474fa69e9f2d7db7a78e122023-05-27T09:33:44ZengWileyMicrobial Biotechnology1751-79152023-06-011661091111110.1111/1751-7915.14224Weaponising microbes for peaceShailly Anand0John E. Hallsworth1James Timmis2Willy Verstraete3Arturo Casadevall4Juan Luis Ramos5Utkarsh Sood6Roshan Kumar7Princy Hira8Charu Dogra Rawat9Abhilash Kumar10Sukanya Lal11Rup Lal12Kenneth Timmis13Department of Zoology Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, University of Delhi Delhi IndiaInstitute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences Queen's University Belfast Belfast UKAthena Institute for Research on Innovation and Communication in Health and Life Sciences Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Amsterdam The NetherlandsCenter for Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET) Ghent University Ghent BelgiumDepartment of Medicine Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and School of Medicine Baltimore Maryland USAEstación Experimental de Zaidin, CSIC Granada SpainDepartment of Zoology Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi Delhi IndiaPost‐Graduate Department of Zoology Magadh University Bodh Gaya Bihar IndiaDepartment of Zoology Maitreyi College, University of Delhi New Delhi IndiaDepartment of Zoology Ramjas College, University of Delhi Delhi IndiaDepartment of Zoology Ramjas College, University of Delhi Delhi IndiaPhiXgen Pvt. Ltd Gurugram, Gurgaon Haryana IndiaAcharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi Govindpuri, Kalkaji, New Delhi IndiaInstitute of Microbiology, Technical University Braunschweig Braunschweig GermanyAbstract There is much human disadvantage and unmet need in the world, including deficits in basic resources and services considered to be human rights, such as drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, healthy nutrition, access to basic healthcare, and a clean environment. Furthermore, there are substantive asymmetries in the distribution of key resources among peoples. These deficits and asymmetries can lead to local and regional crises among peoples competing for limited resources, which, in turn, can become sources of discontent and conflict. Such conflicts have the potential to escalate into regional wars and even lead to global instability. Ergo: in addition to moral and ethical imperatives to level up, to ensure that all peoples have basic resources and services essential for healthy living and to reduce inequalities, all nations have a self‐interest to pursue with determination all available avenues to promote peace through reducing sources of conflicts in the world. Microorganisms and pertinent microbial technologies have unique and exceptional abilities to provide, or contribute to the provision of, basic resources and services that are lacking in many parts of the world, and thereby address key deficits that might constitute sources of conflict. However, the deployment of such technologies to this end is seriously underexploited. Here, we highlight some of the key available and emerging technologies that demand greater consideration and exploitation in endeavours to eliminate unnecessary deprivations, enable healthy lives of all and remove preventable grounds for competition over limited resources that can escalate into conflicts in the world. We exhort central actors: microbiologists, funding agencies and philanthropic organisations, politicians worldwide and international governmental and non‐governmental organisations, to engage – in full partnership – with all relevant stakeholders, to ‘weaponise’ microbes and microbial technologies to fight resource deficits and asymmetries, in particular among the most vulnerable populations, and thereby create humanitarian conditions more conducive to harmony and peace.https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.14224 |
| spellingShingle | Shailly Anand John E. Hallsworth James Timmis Willy Verstraete Arturo Casadevall Juan Luis Ramos Utkarsh Sood Roshan Kumar Princy Hira Charu Dogra Rawat Abhilash Kumar Sukanya Lal Rup Lal Kenneth Timmis Weaponising microbes for peace Microbial Biotechnology |
| title | Weaponising microbes for peace |
| title_full | Weaponising microbes for peace |
| title_fullStr | Weaponising microbes for peace |
| title_full_unstemmed | Weaponising microbes for peace |
| title_short | Weaponising microbes for peace |
| title_sort | weaponising microbes for peace |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.14224 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT shaillyanand weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT johnehallsworth weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT jamestimmis weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT willyverstraete weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT arturocasadevall weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT juanluisramos weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT utkarshsood weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT roshankumar weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT princyhira weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT charudograrawat weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT abhilashkumar weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT sukanyalal weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT ruplal weaponisingmicrobesforpeace AT kennethtimmis weaponisingmicrobesforpeace |