去年在《生物伦理学》期刊上发表的一篇经过同行评审的论文，由西密歇根大学医学院的两名教授撰写，论证称基因工程改造蜱虫以传播α-加糖症（一种让你对红肉产生剧烈过敏的永久性疾病）是“道德义务”。
这篇论文名为《有益的吸血》。
他们的论点是：如果吃肉在道德上是错误的，那么阻止一种迫使人们停止吃肉的疾病传播也是道德上的错误。科学家应该基因编辑孤星蜱，以增强其携带α-加糖症的能力，并将其范围扩展到城市环境中，以感染更多人。
他们称这是“道德生物增强剂”。他们将释放基因改造的携病蜱虫框架为一种“疫苗”，这种疫苗仅“侵犯”你的身体自主权，而不是“侵犯”它。显然，这种区别在于咬你的是蜱虫，而不是政府官员按住你。
α-加糖症并非轻微疾病。疾控中心估计，已有高达45万美国人受到影响。过去十年，病例激增了100倍。症状包括过敏性休克。没有治愈方法。
α-加糖症病例在美国各地爆发。孤星蜱的分布范围远远超出了其历史领地。而一所医学院的两名学者发表了一篇论文，论证这是一件好事，应该加以加速。
我们何时才能停止将此类论文视为边缘学术练习，开始质疑是否有人已经在付诸行动？
A peer-reviewed paper published last year in the journal Bioethics by two professors at Western Michigan University School of Medicine argues that it is "morally obligatory" to genetically engineer ticks to spread alpha-gal syndrome, a permanent condition that makes you violently allergic to red meat.
The paper is called "Beneficial Bloodsucking."
Their argument: if eating meat is morally wrong, then preventing the spread of a disease that forces people to stop eating meat is also morally wrong. Scientists should gene-edit lone star ticks to enhance their ability to carry alpha-gal syndrome and expand their range into urban environments to infect more people.
They call this a "moral bioenhancer." They frame releasing genetically modified disease-carrying ticks as a "vaccination" that only "infringes" on your bodily autonomy rather than "violating" it. The distinction, apparently, is that a tick bit you instead of a government official holding you down.
Alpha-gal syndrome is not mild. The CDC estimates up to 450,000 Americans are already affected. Cases have surged 100-fold in the last decade. Symptoms include anaphylaxis. There is no cure.
Alpha-gal cases are exploding across the United States. The lone star tick's range is expanding far beyond its historical territory. And two academics at a medical school published a paper arguing this is a good thing that should be accelerated.
At what point do we stop treating papers like this as fringe academic exercises and start asking whether anyone is already acting on them?
计划是让每个人都因生物工程蜱虫而生病，这些蜱虫会让你无法吃肉，却不会导致剧烈疾病。然后，他们会给你提供疫苗。为什么这不被视为国内恐怖主义？
The plan is to get everyone sick from bio-engineered ticks that make it impossible for you to eat meat, without getting violently ill. Then, they'll offer you a vaccine. Why is this not considered domestic terrorism?
