Perspectives
Opinions on and about gene drive technologies and their uses.
Bioengineering horizon scan 2020
Tags: Agriculture, Gene drive syntheticL. Kemp, L. Adam, C. R. Boehm, R. Breitling, R. Casagrande, M. Dando, A. Djikeng, N. G. Evans, R. Hammond, K. Hills, L. A. Holt, T. Kuiken, A. Markotić, P. Millett, J. A. Napier, C. Nelson, S. S. ÓhÉigeartaigh, A. Osbourn, M. J. Palmer, N. J. Patron, E. P, eLife, 9:e54489. 2020.
Horizon scanning is intended to identify the opportunities and threats associated with technological, regulatory and social change. In 2017 some of the present authors conducted a horizon scan for bioengineering (Wintle et al., 2017). Here we report the results of a new horizon ...
Gene Drives: Pursuing opportunities, minimizing risk
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Policy, Regulation, Risk and safety, Risk assessmentK. L. Warmbrod, A. Kobokovich, R. West, G. Ray, M. Trotochaud and M. Montague, Center for Health Security, 2020.
This study analyzed the current state of gene drive technologies, the ways in which they might be deployed in the field, and the state of regulatory policy governing their development.
Risk assessment challenges of synthetic gene drive organisms
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive synthetic, Policy, Regulation, Risk and safetyE. Sirinathsinghji, TWN Biosafety Briefing, 2020.
Understanding the Science of Gene Drive and the Potential for an Improved Crop Pest Control System in Nigeria
Tags: Africa, Agriculture, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Pest managementA. Isah and R. S. M. Gidado, OFAB Nigeria, 2020.
Several studies have shown that the Cas9-mediated gene drive technology is cheaper and will be easily affordable by the efficient Nigerian scientists to explore. The application of the gene drive technologies have many more controls over several other devastating insects in ...
Davos 2020 World Economic Forum | When Humankind Overrides Evolution
Tags: Evolution, Gene drive synthetic, VideoM. Skipper, World Economic Forum, Davos 2020. 2020.
Advances in synthetic biology and other novel genetic procedures could resurrect extinct species or eliminate dangerous pests. What actions are needed now to ensure the ethical and responsible application of new genetic techniques?
Irreversible ecosystem engineering with Gene Drive Organisms
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, PolicySave Our Seeds, Save Our Seeds, 2020.
Gene drive technology is a particular application of the new genetic engineering tool CRISPR/Cas9. It is designed to genetically modify, replace or eradicate wild populations or entire species. So far it works in mosquitos, mice, flies, yeast and nematodes. But in principle it ...
Gene drives : equity demands civility
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive syntheticN. Kofler, Nature, 565:25. 2020.
At the 14th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity late last year, I witnessed the rapid deterioration of a crucial discussion. It was on the potential of synthetic biology in environmental conservation. What started as heckling turned ...
These are the 5 most dystopian technologies of 2020 and beyond
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive syntheticM. Sullivan, FastCompany, 2019.
Tech is always both good and bad. But we live in a time when everything gets weaponized—ideas, images, ancient texts, biases, and even people. And technology provides the tools to do it easier, faster, and with less resources.
Exterminator genes: The right to say no to ethics dumping
Tags: Ethics, Policy, Risk and safetyBassey-Orovwuje, M., J. Thomas and T. Wakeford, Development, 62:121-127. 2019.
The scientific-industrial complex is promoting a new wave of genetically modified organisms, in particular gene drive organisms, using the same hype with which they tried to persuade society that GMOs would be a magic bullet to solve world hunger. The Gates Foundation claims that ...
Gene drives in Africa – A Podcast
Tags: Ethics, Gene drive synthetic, Policy, Risk and safetyWakeford, T., etc Group, 2019.
In Episode #1 ETC's Tom Wakeford speaks with Ugandan lawyer and advocate Barbara Ntambirweki about gene drives, a powerful new genetic technology that can change species in the wild and make species go extinct.
Gene drives in Wisconsin agriculture: What are they, and should you support it?
Tags: Agriculture, Gene drive syntheticJones, M. and Mitchell, P. D., Renk Agribusiness Institute, 2019.
Spotted wing drosophila and citrus psyllid are not serious economic problems for Wisconsin agriculture. However, these and other smaller, geographically limited applications of gene drives are excellent ways to prove the concept and refine the methods. Pending the outcome of ...
Malaria eradication within a generation: ambitious, achievable, and necessary
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, MalariaR. G. A. Feachem, I. Chen, O. Akbari, A. Bertozzi-Villa, S. Bhatt, F. Binka, M. F. Boni, C. Buckee, J. Dieleman, A. Dondorp, A. Eapen, N. Sekhri Feachem, S. Filler, P. Gething, R. Gosling, A. Haakenstad, K. Harvard, A. Hatefi, D. Jamison, K. E. Jones, C., Lancet, 394:1056-1112. 2019.
50 years after a noble but flawed attempt to eradicate malaria in the mid-20th century, the global malaria community is once again seriously considering eradication. Momentum towards eradication has been building for decades, and more than half of the world’s countries are now ...
Genetically engineered mosquitoes out of control
Tags: Ecology, Gene drive synthetic, Risk and safetyGM Watch, GM Watch, 2019.
According to a new scientific publication, genetically engineered mosquitoes produced by the biotech company Oxitec (Intrexon) have escaped human control after trials in Brazil. They are now spreading in the environment. The yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) are genetically ...
Gene drive organisms: What Africa should know about actors, motives and threats to biodiversity and food systems
Tags: Ethics, Gene drive synthetic, Policy, Risk and safetySirinathsinghji, E., African Centre for Biodiversity., 2019.
In this briefing paper, we set out the key issues that our governments should have addressed with African civil society before endorsing positions and setting the benchmark for Africa-wide policy. In this regard, we point out that, while the impetus for the AU position might well ...
Gene drive technology makes mouse offspring inherit specific traits from parents
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, RodentsCooper, KLG, Hannah A., The Conversation, 2019.
As mouse geneticists, we spend a lot of time waiting for mice to make more mice. Their small size, ease of care and willingness to mate have made mice the “mammal of choice” for scientists for more than a century. Indeed, these wriggly fur balls that strike fear in the hearts ...
Gene editing research highlights challenges in using CRISPR for pest control
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, RodentsDreaver, C, Radio New Zealand, 2019.
US researchers have had some success in using the gene editing technique CRISPR to test out a gene drive in mice, to modify their genes - highlighting the challenges researchers face if it were to be used in pest eradication.
Gene Drives Work in Mice (if They’re Female)
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, RodentsRennie, JC, Jordana, Quanta Magazine, 2019.
Conservationists and bioethicists often regard the packages of engineered DNA called “gene drives” with a mixture of wonder, excitement and dread. Gene drives violate the normal rules of inheritance by making sure they get passed down to all of their host organism’s ...
Gene drive mosquitoes and the new era of medical colonialism
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, MosquitoesMayet, MC, L. I.; Sirinathsingji, E, GM Watch, 2019.
The highly contentious issue of gene drive technologies – a novel extreme form of genetic engineering designed to alter or even eradicate entire populations and species – was at the heart of the international negotiations at the biennial UN Biodiversity Conference held in ...
Gene driving the farm: who decides, who owns, and who benefits?
Tags: Agriculture, CRISPR, Ethics, Gene drive, Other arthropods, Risk and safetyMontenegro de Wit, M, Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 43:1054-1074. 2019.
This commentary essay explores the social and ecological implications of gene-driving agriculture.
Sustainability as a framework for considering gene drive mice for invasive rodent eradication
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Ethics, Fruit fly, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Governance, Pest management, RodentsBarnhill-Dilling, SKS, M.; Blondel, D. V.; Godwin, J., Sustainability, 11:1334. 2019.
Gene drives represent a dynamic and controversial set of technologies with applications that range from mosquito control to the conservation of biological diversity on islands. Currently, gene drives are being developed in mice that may one day serve as an important tool for ...
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Foundation for the
National Institutes of Health
geneconvenevi@fnih.org