Mouth Disease: A Future Economic Threat to Australia
Synthetic biology poses a potential economic threat to Australia's livestock industry through the possible creation of enhanced foot-and-mouth disease. Experts suggest that investing in domestic mRNA vaccine capabilities is essential for national biosecurity and economic resilience.
Why it matters
It highlights the intersection of emerging biotechnologies and national security, specifically the risk of biological warfare targeting agricultural economies.
25 Sep 2026 Synthetically Enhanced Foot-and-Mouth Disease: A Future Economic Threat to Australia By Dr Jon Cottam Share Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share on X (Twitter) Synthetic biology (SynBio) could allow States to create enhanced foot-and-mouth disease for use in grey zone operations to economically devastate Australia’s livestock industry. However, SynBio is also the critical means of resilience to this threat by way of scaled domestic mRNA FMD vaccine capability that will build upon existing biosecurity measures.
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