Soon we’ll be able to engineer the wild, can the policies keep up with the science?

M. Montague and A. Kobokovich,  The Hill,  2020.

Humans have been able to genetically alter the world around them for thousands of years. With the domestication of dogs at least 14,000 years ago, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been a constant feature of human society; only recently have we gained the ability to perform these modifications at the molecular level.

Even more recently, gene drive technology has fundamentally added the ability of humans to modify wild organisms, not only domesticated organisms. With the ability to make rapid, permanent changes to wild species on the near horizon, we must act now to implement policies that will carefully regulate their use while allowing for vital scientific research to continue.

policy policy governance governance ethics ethics policy policy governance governance ethics ethics policy policy governance governance ethics ethics policy policy governance governance ethics ethics policy policy governance governance ethics ethics policy policy governance governance ethics ethics


More related to this:

Mapping research and governance needs for gene drives(Opens in a new browser tab)

Making policies about emerging technologies

Providing a policy framework for responsible gene drive research: an analysis of the existing governance landscape and priority areas for further research.

Ethics

Cheating evolution: engineering gene drives to manipulate the fate of wild populations

Current CRISPR gene drive systems are likely to be highly invasive in wild populations