Perspectives
Opinions on and about gene drive technologies and their uses.
Bioengineering horizon scan 2020
12449L. 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. 2020-05-29 20:28:54.
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 scan that is based on inputs from a larger and more international group of 38 participants. The final list of 20 issues includes topics spanning from the political (the regulation of genomic data, increased philanthropic funding and malicious uses of neurochemicals) to the environmental (crops for changing climates and agricultural gene drives). The early identification of such issues is relevant to researchers, policy-makers and the wider public.
Gene Drives: Pursuing opportunities, minimizing risk
11966K. L. Warmbrod, A. Kobokovich, R. West, G. Ray, M. Trotochaud and M. Montague, Center for Health Security, 2020-05-18 18:14:50.
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
12529E. Sirinathsinghji, TWN Biosafety Briefing, 2020-03-01 15:12:11.
Understanding the Science of Gene Drive and the Potential for an Improved Crop Pest Control System in Nigeria
14882A. Isah and R. S. M. Gidado, OFAB Nigeria, 2020-02-26 15:52:39.
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 Nigeria and may be very necessary to adopt it to rescue our ailing food crop industry from the attack by destructive insect pest of crops.
Davos 2020 World Economic Forum | When Humankind Overrides Evolution
6813M. Skipper, World Economic Forum, Davos 2020. 2020-01-21 15:32:08.
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
8178Save Our Seeds, Save Our Seeds, 2020-01-18 19:56:07.
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 could be used to genetically modify any sexually reproducing organism. Gene drive organisms (GDOs) are meant to mate with their wild relatives and spread their engineered genes to ALL of their offspring. This forced inheritance pattern circumvents natures normal rules of inheritance. It triggers a genetic chain reaction in which the genetic engineering tool CRISPR/Cas9 and sometimes an additional new gene are passed on from generation to generation. Genetic changes induced by a gene drive can lead to sterility or the change of sex ratio of their descendants, leading to a crash in their population. First field trials in nature are foreseen for the near future.
Gene drives : equity demands civility
6184N. Kofler, Nature, 565:25. 2020-01-03 19:10:06.
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 into a yelling match of misinformation. Such disruptive behaviour robbed the global community of a rare opportunity to debate gene drives in a meaningful way. Sidelined young scientists, country delegates and others watched in disbelief.
These are the 5 most dystopian technologies of 2020 and beyond
6188M. Sullivan, FastCompany, 2019-12-28 19:13:46.
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
5654Bassey-Orovwuje, M., J. Thomas and T. Wakeford, Development, 62:121-127. 2019-12-17 18:09:38.
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 GDOs could help wipe out diseases such as malaria. Powerful conservation lobby groups claim GDOs will protect engendered species. Not only are the benefits from GDOs based, like their predecessors, on flawed ecological thinking, but they are backed by the same agri-business interests that have devastated agroecological farming systems. The rights of communities to say ‘no’ to new genetic technologies is being eroded, despite United Nations agreements, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, which call for the free, prior and informed consent of affected communities to be respected. By exporting their field trials to countries with weak regulatory regimes and lowering of the standards of consent the Gates Foundation’s Target Malaria project has already been guilty of ethics dumping. These developments demonstrate the urgent need to democratize the development of new technologies.
Gene drives in Africa – A Podcast
5592Wakeford, T., etc Group, 2019-12-16 19:57:27.
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?
6026Jones, M. and Mitchell, P. D., Renk Agribusiness Institute, 2019-10-02 20:34:10.
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 these limited-scale applications, we are likely to eventually see implications for row crop agriculture such as the management of serious and widespread pests such like corn rootworm, European corn borer, soybean aphid and Colorado potato beetle. Applications which could provide tremendous benefits to Wisconsin producers.
Malaria eradication within a generation: ambitious, achievable, and necessary
12533R. 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. 2019-09-13 15:21:30.
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 malaria free.
Genetically engineered mosquitoes out of control
4534GM Watch, GM Watch, 2019-09-11 00:00:00.
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 engineered to make it impossible for their offspring to survive. After release they were supposed to mate with female mosquitoes of the species which transmit infectious diseases, such as Dengue fever, to diminish the natural populations.
Gene drive organisms: What Africa should know about actors, motives and threats to biodiversity and food systems
5923Sirinathsinghji, E., African Centre for Biodiversity., 2019-05-13 16:51:45.
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 have been gene drive technologies proposed by the Gates-funded Target Malaria consortium, as a tool to reduce the transmission of malaria on the continent, the debate about gene drive organisms goes well beyond gene drive mosquitoes. Plans by gene drive developers target pests, pollinators, weeds and the speeding up of plant breeding programmes. The logic of using these technologies in agriculture relies on the continued deception that exceedingly complex problems in the food system in Africa can be resolved simply by new high-tech innovations, while downplaying their potential risks to biodiversity and livelihoods.
Gene drive technology makes mouse offspring inherit specific traits from parents
4531Cooper, KLG, Hannah A., The Conversation, 2019-01-24 00:00:00.
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 of some are owed a debt of gratitude for all they’ve taught researchers about human health and how mammalian bodies are built and function.
Gene editing research highlights challenges in using CRISPR for pest control
4532Dreaver, C, Radio New Zealand, 2019-01-24 00:00:00.
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)
4538Rennie, JC, Jordana, Quanta Magazine, 2019-01-23 00:00:00.
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 offspring, not just to half of them; they therefore have the unnerving potential to rapidly and irrevocably alter a population. Much of the controversy about gene drives has centered on the practicality (and hubris) of using them to control dangerous insect pests, since insects were about the only animals in which gene drives had been shown to work.
Gene drive mosquitoes and the new era of medical colonialism
4536Mayet, MC, L. I.; Sirinathsingji, E, GM Watch, 2019-01-22 00:00:00.
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 Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2018.
Gene driving the farm: who decides, who owns, and who benefits?
3907Montenegro de Wit, M, Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 43:1054-1074. 2019-01-05 00:00:00.
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
3886Barnhill-Dilling, SKS, M.; Blondel, D. V.; Godwin, J., Sustainability, 11:1334. 2019-01-04 00:00:00.
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 reducing invasive rodent pests, a key threat to island biodiversity and economies. Gene drives in mice are still in development in laboratories, and wild release of modified mice is likely a distant reality. However, technological changes outpace the existing capacity of regulatory frameworks, and thus require integrated governance frameworks. We suggest sustainability-which gives equal consideration to the environment, economy, and society-as one framework for addressing complexity and uncertainty in the governance of emerging gene drive technologies for invasive species management. We explore the impacts of rodent gene drives on island environments, including potential conservation and restoration of island biodiversity. We outline considerations for rodent gene drives on island economies, including impacts on agricultural and tourism losses, and reductions in biosecurity costs. Finally, we address the social dimension as an essential space for deliberation that will be integral to evaluating the potential deployment of gene drive rodents on islands.
Contact Us
Alex Sullivan
Foundation for the
National Institutes of Health
geneconvenevi@fnih.org