Peer-Reviewed Paper Says Genetically Engineering Ticks to Spread Meat Allergies Is “Morally Obligatory"

They’re saying the quiet part out loud now.

This article originally appeared on Focal Points and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Western Michigan professors claim that CRISPR-edited ticks should be used to spread alpha-gal syndrome as “moral bioenhancement” to force humans away from eating meat.

This is absolutely absurd.

A recent peer-reviewed paper titled, Beneficial Bloodsucking, argues that alpha-gal syndrome—the tick-borne condition that can make people allergic to red meat—should be treated as a form of “moral bioenhancement.”

The authors (Western Michigan University professors) argue that because they believe eating meat is morally wrong, intentionally spreading a meat allergy using CRISPR-edited ticks could make people more “virtuous” by forcing them away from mammalian meat.

The paper states that the “permissibility” of their proposal depends on genetically editing lone star ticks in three ways:

1. engineering ticks to carry alpha-gal syndrome

2. engineering them to survive and spread more widely

3. engineering them so they do not transmit other diseases such as tularemia or ehrlichiosis

They specifically cite CRISPR-based tick gene editing as evidence that this kind of manipulation may be feasible, arguing that if scientists can edit ticks to affect Lyme disease transmission, then similar approaches may eventually be applied to lone star ticks.

The most disturbing line is their conclusion: they argue that promoting alpha-gal syndrome is “morally obligatory.” According to the authors, this would mean researchers have an obligation to develop the alpha-gal–carrying capacity of ticks, and human agents may be obligated to expose others to alpha-gal syndrome, not prevent its spread, and even undermine attempts to “cure” it.

Alpha-gal syndrome is not a harmless lifestyle nudge. It is a serious, potentially life-threatening allergic condition that can develop after a tick bite. Symptoms can include rash, gastrointestinal distress, and severe allergic reactions including anaphylaxis; reactions can occur after exposure to mammalian meat, mammal-derived products, dairy in some cases, and certain medical products.

And this condition already affects a substantial number of Americans. CDC reports that more than 110,000 suspected cases were identified from 2010 to 2022, while the true burden may be far higher because alpha-gal syndrome is not nationally notifiable and many patients are never tested or diagnosed.

CDC estimates that as many as 450,000 people in the United States may be affected.

Think about what is being proposed here: deliberately developing genetically modified ticks to spread a potentially life-threatening meat allergy that may already affect nearly half a million Americans.

This does not sound like public health. It sounds like bioterrorism dressed up as bioethics.

And this is not happening in a vacuum. The Gates Foundation has already funded work on genetically engineered ticks, awarding more than $7.6 million to Flyttr Limited in 2023 “to initiate development of a self-limiting tick” for control of the tropical cattle tick, Rhipicephalus microplus.

That project is not the same as alpha-gal syndrome and involves cattle ticks, not lone star ticks, but it proves the broader point: genetically engineered ticks are no longer theoretical. They are already being funded, developed, and normalized.

Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Epidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough Foundation

www.mcculloughfnd.org

Please consider following both the McCullough Foundation and my personal account on X (formerly Twitter) for further content.

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