It seems certain that within a few decades the billions of individuals here on Earth will have the capacity, if they so wish, to create artificial life. And any population of several billion will contain individuals who are insane, hateful or vengeful: we have plenty of such people among us right now. The difference is that in a few years those people will be able to create pathogens that target those possessing the “wrong” number of X chromosomes, “too high” a production of melanin, or otherwise “undesirable” genetic traits.
