Defusing the legal and ethical minefield of epigenetic applications in the military, defense, and security context.

ABSTRACT: Epigenetic research has brought several important technological achievements, including identifying epigenetic clocks and signatures, and developing epigenetic editing. The potential military applications of such technologies we discuss are stratifying soldiers' health, exposure to trauma using epigenetic testing, information about biological clocks, confirming child soldiers' minor status using epigenetic clocks, and inducing epigenetic modifications in soldiers. These uses could become a reality. This article presents a comprehensive literature review, and analysis by interdisciplinary experts of the scientific, legal, ethical, and societal issues surrounding epigenetics and the military. Notwithstanding the potential benefit from these applications, our findings indicate that the curren

SUBMITTER: Dalpe G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10719446 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature