Genetically Modified Spider Silk-Producing Worms Will Destroy Us All

The hot news in the insect world today is that University of Wyoming researchers have genetically modified silkworms to spin spider silk, which is pound-for-pound stronger than steel. Unlike the silk that silkworms normally spin, which is generally best suited for Miami clubwear, spider silk has the strength to alter architecture (imagine a diaphanous silk suspension bridge) and potentially make possible the space elevators we’ve long been promised.

Why mess with the genes of silkworms in the first place? Farming spiders would be a colossal pain in the rear, as they don’t produce a whole lot of silk, like to eat each other, and aren’t necessarily easy to handle. Silkworms, on the other hand, are basically just gelatinous tubes that ingest leaves and poop out miles of silk. For a silk farmer, working with worms isn’t as exciting as saying you’re a spider wrangler, but it’s a lot easier.

The University of Wyoming team, led by Professor Don Jarvis, has thus far created GM worms that produce a composite of regular silkworm silk and spider silk that they claim has a strength equal to that of the good ol’ fashioned spider stuff. It all sounds well and good, but is no one really concerned about what will happen when silkworms are able to produce supersilk in quantities never before seen by nature?

Oddly enough, the BBC asked Professor Guy Poppy of Southampton University, who wasn’t affiliated with the research, if creating GM superworms would be a problem.

“It’s hard to see how a silkworm producing spider silk would have any advantage in nature,” he said, arguing that even if the GM silkworms escaped, it doesn’t seem like the super-strong silk would give them the benefit they’d need to take over the world.

The tinfoil hat-wearing me thinks that sounds like poppycock. I mean, if these worms are making spider silk, imagine what happens when they inevitably infect a human. That’s basically like giving Spiderman’s powers to The Blob. You can’t stop that. Plus, we’ve already had enough trouble when normal insects show up where they shouldn’t. But then again, super strength biowire sounds pretty attractive. What do you think, is the risk of death at the hands of steel-fiber-excreting worms worth the chance of building a space elevator? Let’s hear it in the comments.