Keywords: Ethics

For the Sake of 600,000 Children, Science Must Be Bold

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Laurie Zoloth,  The New York Times,  2024.
Bold ideas in science research used to thrill us; now they seem pretty threatening. When I have written about the ethics of genetically engineered mosquitoes to combat malaria, many of my friends have expressed alarm. “What if it goes badly wrong?” they ask. What if there are ...

Should We Unleash GMO Mosquitoes?

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Brooke Borel and Anna Rothschild,  Entanglements,  2024.
In this episode of Entanglements, hosts Brooke Borel and Anna Rothschild discuss the ethics and risks of genetically modified (GMO) mosquitoes. They explore differing expert opinions, focusing on technologies like gene drives and sterile males, examining ecological and safety ...

Russia’s Latest Target in Africa: U.S.-Funded Anti-Malaria Programs

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Elian Peltier,  The New York Times,  2024.
The scientists sifting through thousands of genetically modified mosquito larvae in a laboratory in Burkina Faso were trying to stop the spread of malaria, one of the biggest killers on the African continent. But in the pro-Russian propaganda telling of their work, the ...

To CRISPR or Not to CRISPR? Ethical Considerations in Gene-Editing Insects

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Brendan Parent, Meghan Barrett,  American Entomologist,  70:54-57. 2024.
Genetically modified corn has helped feed the world (Hernandes-Lopes et al. 2023). Genetically modified mosquitoes could help eliminate devastating diseases like malaria (Hammond and Galizi 2017). Plainly, gene editing can serve some important human interests. Still, many people ...

New genetic editing technique can modify wild populations with less risk

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Macquarie University,  Phys.org,  2024.
A new technique developed by researchers from Macquarie University and the California Institute of Technology could allow scientists to more safely alter the genetic makeup of wild populations. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. The researchers have ...

Otago GE Wasp Project Violates International Gene Drive Agreement

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GE-Free NZ,  Scoop,  2024.
Professor Dearden, Otago University, has received $11 million from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise (MBIE) to engineer wasps using gene drive technology. He is only consulting with Māori and regulators, ignoring and side-lining the views of other concerned New ...

Framing Challenges and Opportunities for Canada: Expert Panel on Regulating Gene-Edited Organisms for Pest Control

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CCA (Council of Canadian Academies),  Framing Challenges and Opportunities for Canada,  2023.
Gene-editing technologies are changing approaches to pest management. Rapidly evolving but unproven gene-editing tools could potentially mitigate the impacts of pests in public health, conservation, and agricultural contexts. The use of these tools, however, is accompanied by ...

Transformative Novel Technologies and Global Environmental Governance

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F. Rabitz,  Cambridge University Press,  2023.
Transformative Novel Technologies are potential gamechangers for confronting climate change, biodiversity loss, and many other elements of the global environmental crisis, allowing us to achieve a more sustainable future. The contemporary and future international governance of ...

Gene Drive Mosquitoes from Islamic Perspective: A Preliminary Discussion

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N. M. Isa,  Global Journal Al-Thaqafah,  13. 2023.
Gene drive mosquitoes could spread desired trait, such as female infertility within a wild population at a rate higher than the normal inheritance rate and could eventually wipe out the population. Consequently, this makes gene drive mosquitoes one of the promising approaches in ...

Guerrilla eugenics: gene drives in heritable human genome editing

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A. D. Cutter,  J Med Ethics,  2023.
CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing can and has altered human genomes, bringing bioethical debates about this capability to the forefront of philosophical and policy considerations. Here, I consider the underexplored implications of CRISPR-Cas9 gene drives for heritable human genome ...

The attitudes of young adults towards mammalian predator control and Predator Free 2050 in Aotearoa New Zealand

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L. Dickie and F. Medvecky,  Australasian Journal of Environmental Management,  2023.
Predator Free 2050 (PF2050) is an ambitious goal that aims to remove three types of invasive mammals from New Zealand by 2050. It will require a significant amount of funding, research, and support. Young adults will have an important role to play for this programme to be ...

The boundary problem: Defining and delineating the community in field trials with gene drive organisms

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N. de Graeff, I. Pirson, R. van der Graaf, A. L. Bredenoord and K. R. Jongsma,  Bioethics,  2023.
Despite widespread and worldwide efforts to eradicate vector-borne diseases such as malaria, these diseases continue to have an enormous negative impact on public health. For this reason, scientists are working on novel control strategies, such as gene drive technologies (GDTs). ...

Gene Drives as Interventions into Nature: the Coproduction of Ontology and Morality in the Gene Drive Debate

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K. Boersma, B. Bovenkerk and D. Ludwig,  NanoEthics,  17:4. 2023.
Gene drives are potentially ontologically and morally disruptive technologies. The potential to shape evolutionary processes and to eradicate (e.g. malaria-transmitting or invasive) populations raises ontological questions about evolution, nature, and wilderness. The ...

Evolution driven by genetic engineering should be known as ‘genetic welding’ to draw scientific and ethical scrutiny

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S. Moore,  AZO Life Sciences,  2023.
The advent of CRISPR-Cas9 technology has been revolutionary, but it has also been highly controversial. In an opinion paper published in the journal Trends in Genetics, evolutionary geneticist Asher Cutter highlights the importance of coining the term ‘genetic welding’ for ...

What should we call evolution driven by genetic engineering? Genetic welding, says researcher

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Cell Press,  Phys Org,  2023.
With CRISPR-Cas9 technology, humans can now rapidly change the evolutionary course of animals or plants by inserting genes that can easily spread through entire populations. Evolutionary geneticist Asher Cutter proposes that we call this evolutionary meddling “genetic ...

Alleviating the burden of malaria with gene drive technologies? A biocentric analysis of the moral permissibility of modifying malaria mosquitoes

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N. de Graeff, K. R. Jongsma and A. L. Bredenoord,  Journal of Medical Ethics,  2023.
Gene drive technologies (GDTs) have been proposed as a potential new way to alleviate the burden of malaria, yet have also raised ethical questions. A central ethical question regarding GDTs relates to whether it is morally permissible to intentionally modify or eradicate ...

The Anthropocene as the End of Nature? Why Recognizing Interventionism Is Key in Coming to Terms with the Anthropocene

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K. Boersma,  ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS,  44:195-219. 2023.
In this article, I address and argue against the tendency to understand the anthropocene as inaugurating the end of nature. I conduct two key moves. First, by way of an engagement with the concept of anthropocene technology I explain how understanding the anthropocene as the end ...

Social justice environmental activists move to block gene editing to control invasive species and promote biodiversity. Here’s why they’re misguided

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S. Smyth,  Genetic Literacy Project,  2023.
Control of invasive species has been extremely difficult with eradication virtually impossible. To control invasive plant species, chemicals are commonly used while in some instances removal of plants by hand, as Shiva advocates, is undertaken. Efforts to control invasive animals ...

Ethical dilemma: Should we get rid of mosquitoes?

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Talya Hackett,  TED-Ed,  2023.
Mosquitoes are responsible for more human deaths every year than any other animal, but very few of the 3,500 mosquito species actually transmit deadly diseases to humans. Scientists have been conducting experiments using engineered technologies called gene drives that could ...

Trust in science and scientists: Effects of social attitudes and motivations on views regarding climate change, vaccines and gene drive technology

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H. G. W. Dixson, A. F. Komugabe-Dixson, F. Medvecky, J. Balanovic, H. Thygesen and E. A. MacDonald,  Journal of Trust Research,  2023.
Trust in science and scientists (TSS) is an increasingly important topic with respect to how science is applied within society. However, its role regarding specific issues may vary depending upon other psychosocial factors. In this study, we investigated how trust interacts with ...

Genes drive organisms and slippery slopes

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D. B. Resnik, R. F. Medina, F. Gould, G. Church and J. Kuzma,  Pathog Glob Health,  2022.
The bioethical debate about using gene drives to alter or eradicate wild populations has focused mostly on issues concerning short-term risk assessment and management, governance and oversight, and public and community engagement, but has not examined big-picture- 'where is this ...

Gene drive technologies: navigating the ethical landscape

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N. d. Graeff,  Utrecht University,  2022.
Gene drives are technologies that modify a particular genetic element in animals or insects so that this genetic element does not follow the typical rules of heredity, and is passed onto future generations with an increased likelihood. Gene drive technologies could be used to ...

Ethics of gene drive mosquitoes for malaria elimination

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A. J. Roberts,  McMaster University,  2022.
This thesis is concerned with presenting analyses regarding key ethical issues regarding and arising from the development and potential use of gene drive modified mosquitoes for the purpose of malaria elimination. Each of the chapters constituting this thesis offers a rigorously ...

Hurdles in responsive community engagement for the development of environmental biotechnologies

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A. M. Normandin, L. M. Fitzgerald, J. Yip and S. W. Evans,  Synthetic Biology,  7:ysac022. 2022.
Recent calls for engaging communities in biotechnology development do not draw enough attention to the hurdles that must be overcome for engagement strategies to effectively feed back into research design and conduct. These hurdles call into question many standard ways of ...

Justifying an Intentional Species Extinction: The Case of Anopheles gambiae

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D. E. Callies and Y. Rohwer,  Environmental Values,  31:193-210. 2022.
Each year, over 200 million people are infected with the malaria parasite, nearly half a million of whom succumb to the disease. Emerging genetic technologies could, in theory, eliminate the burden of malaria throughout the world by intentionally eradicating the mosquitoes that ...

Exploring value change

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T. E. de Wildt and V. J. Schweizer,  Prometheus,  38. 2022.
This article aims to explore the use of cross-impact balances (CIB) to identify scenarios of value change. The possibility of value change has received little attention in the literature on value-sensitive design (VSD). Examples of value change include the emergence of new values ...

Governing Gene Drive Technologies: A Qualitative Interview Study

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N. de Graeff, K. R. Jongsma, J. E. Lunshof and A. L. Bredenoord,  AJOB Empirical Bioethics,  13:107-124. 2022.
Gene drive technologies (GDTs) bias the inheritance of a genetic element within a population of non-human organisms, promoting its progressive spread across this population. If successful, GDTs may be used to counter intractable problems such as vector-borne diseases. A key issue ...

Should we kill every mosquito on Earth?

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J. Phelan,  LiveScience,  2022.
Before you grab that can of bug spray, know this: While some mosquitoes are dangerous to us, not all are. Even those that are sometimes harmful tend not to feed on humans, preferring honeydew, plant sap and nectar, according to Mosquito Joe, a mosquito control company. There are ...

Regulation of genetically engineered (GE) mosquitoes as a public health tool: a public health ethics analysis

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Z. Meghani,  Globalization and Health,  18:21. 2022.
In recent years, genetically engineered (GE) mosquitoes have been proposed as a public health measure against the high incidence of mosquito-borne diseases among the poor in regions of the global South. While uncertainties as well as risks for humans and ecosystems are entailed ...

An Ethical Overview of the CRISPR-Based Elimination of Anopheles gambiae to Combat Malaria

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I. J. Wise and P. Borry,  Journal of Bioethical Inquiry,  2022.
Approximately a quarter of a billion people around the world suffer from malaria each year. Most cases are located in sub-Saharan Africa where Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes are the principal vectors of this public health problem. With the use of CRISPR-based gene drives, the ...

A preliminary framework for understanding the governance of novel environmental technologies: Ambiguity, indeterminateness and drift

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F. Rabitz, M. Feist, M. Honegger, J. Horton, S. Jinnah and J. Reynolds,  Earth System Governance,  12:100134. 2022.
We propose a conceptual framework to explain why some technologies are more difficult to govern than others in global environmental governance. We start from the observation that some technologies pose transboundary environmental risks, some provide capacities for managing such ...

Articulating ethical principles guiding Target Malaria’s engagement strategy

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A. J. Roberts and D. Thizy,  Malaria Journal,  21:35. 2022.
Progress in gene drive research has engendered a lively discussion about community engagement and the ethical standards the work hinges on. While there is broad agreement regarding ethical principles and established best practices for conducting clinical public health research, ...

Gene Editing Is Popular, But Controversial, Research Are

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Relias,  RELIAS MEDIA,  2022.
Gene drive research carries great potential for controlling insect vectors of devastating diseases, but there are multiple unresolved ethical concerns. Unanticipated “downstream” effects on ecosystems, or in organisms that carry the gene drive machinery, are possible. To help ...

Gene Drives in the U.K., U.S., and Australian Press (2015–2019): How a New Focus on Responsibility Is Shaping Science Communication

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A. Stelmach, B. Nerlich and S. Hartley,  Science Communication,  10755470211072245. 2022.
Gene drive is a controversial biotechnology for pest control. Despite a commitment from gene drive researchers to responsibility and the key role of the media in debates about science and technology, little research has been conducted on media reporting of gene drive. We employ ...

Ethical Considerations for Gene Drive: Challenges of Balancing Inclusion, Power and Perspectives

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A. Kormos, G. C. Lanzaro, E. Bier, V. Santos, L. Nazare, J. Pinto, A. A. dos Santos and A. James,  Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology,  2022.
Progress in gene-drive research has stimulated discussion and debate on ethical issues including community engagement and consent, policy and governance, and decision-making involved in development and deployment. Many organizations, academic institutions, foundations, and ...

Gene Editing in the Wild: Shaping Decisions through Broad Public Deliberation

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M. K. Gusmano, G. E. Kaebnick, K. J. Maschke, C. P. Neuhaus and B. C. Wills,  The Hastings Center Report,  51. 2021.
The essays in this special report grew out of a project funded by the National Science Foundation (with NSF award number 1827935). Gregory E. Kaebnick and Michael K. Gusmano were co-principal investigators on the project, and Karen J. Maschke and Carolyn P. Neuhaus were ...

Deficits of Public Deliberation in U.S. Oversight for Gene Edited Organisms

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J. Kuzma,  Hastings Center Report,  51 Suppl 2:S25-s33. 2021.
Environmental releases of gene edited (GEdOs) and gene drive organisms (GDOs) will likely occur under conditions of high uncertainty and in complex socioecological systems. Therefore, public deliberation is especially important to account for diverse interpretations of safety, ...

Public Deliberation about Gene Editing in the Wild

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M. K. Gusmano, G. E. Kaebnick, K. J. Maschke, C. P. Neuhaus and B. C. Wills,  Hastings Center Report,  51 Suppl 2:S2-s10. 2021.
Genetic editing technologies have long been used to modify domesticated nonhuman animals and plants. Recently, attention and funding have also been directed toward projects for modifying nonhuman organisms in the shared environment-that is, in the "wild." Interest in gene editing ...

Empowering Indigenous Knowledge in Deliberations on Gene Editing in the Wild

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R. Taitingfong and A. Ullah,  Hastings Center Report,  51 Suppl 2:S74-s84. 2021.
Proposals to release genetically engineered organisms in the wild raise complex ethical issues related to their safe and equitable implementation. While there is broad agreement that community and public engagement is vital to decision-making in this context, more discussion is ...

The Decision Phases Framework for Public Engagement: Engaging Stakeholders about Gene Editing in the Wild

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S. K. Barnhill-Dilling, A. Kokotovich and J. A. Delborne,  Hastings Center Report,  51 Suppl 2:S48-s61. 2021.
Some experts and advocates propose environmental biotechnologies such as genetic engineering, gene drive systems, and synthetic biology as potential solutions to accelerating rates of species loss. While these tools may offer hope for a seemingly intractable problem, they also ...

Podcast: Malaria Gene Drive

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S. Hartley, S. Neema and C. Opesen,  University of Exeter Business School,  2021.
Professor Sarah Hartley and her two colleagues in Uganda, Stella Neema and Chris Opesen discuss gene drive research for malaria control. Funded by British Academy and Wellcome trust, their work is to understand the social science challenges around the development of this kind of ...

Small-scale release of non-gene drive mosquitoes in Burkina Faso: from engagement implementation to assessment, a learning journey

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L. Pare Toe, N. Barry, A. D. Ky, S. Kekele, W. Meda, K. Bayala, M. Drabo, D. Thizy and A. Diabate,  Malaria Journal,  20:395. 2021.
This study provides a review of engagement activities relevant to field trials on non-gene drive genetically-modified mosquitoes as well as an assessment framework-using both qualitative and quantitative studies as well as an audit procedure. The latter was implemented to ...

Calling the latest gene technologies ‘natural’ is a semantic distraction — they must still be regulated

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J. A. Heinemann, D. J. Paull, S. Walker and B. Kurenbach,  The Conversation,  2021.
Legislators around the world are being asked to reconsider how to regulate the latest developments in gene technology, genome editing and gene silencing. Both the European Court of Justice and the New Zealand High Court have ruled that genome editing techniques should remain ...

Knowing and Controlling: Engineering Ideals and Gene Drive for Invasive Species Control in Aotearoa New Zealand

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C. H. Ross,  Nature Remade: Engineering Life, Envisioning Worlds,  2021.
On the islands of Aotearoa, also called New Zealand, invasive species have been a prominent and persistent concern for local ecosystems. Traditional methods of biological control, though, can be difficult to implement and often have harmful side- effects for the environment and ...

2021 WHO guidelines on genetically modified mosquitoes

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M. Makoni,  The Lancet Microbe,  2:e353. 2021.
On May 19, 2021, WHO updated its guidelines for research and development on genetically modified mosquitoes, which define the standards for decision-making about how and when testing should proceed and describe best practices to ensure that research done in a public health ...

A new tool in the global fight against malaria

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S. Laux,  Brighter World,  2021.
McMaster researchers with the Institute on Ethics & Policy for Innovation (IEPI) have played a key role in developing updated international guidelines that will inform research and development on genetically modified mosquitoes – an initiative that could significantly affect ...

Gene Drive research Forum: Unsettled issues in gene drive research

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2021.

Living With the Limits of Our New Clerisy’s Knowledge

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R. Fernandez,  PJ Media,  2021.
We are living in a strange time when reason has fallen short of human expectations and there is, once again, pressure to place our trust in faith. Leighton Woodhouse hit the nail on the head when he argued that we have appointed a New Clerisy to rule over us, not because they are ...

What is wrong in extinguishing a species? Charting the Ethical Challenges of using Gene-Drive Technologies to eradicate A. gambiae vector populations

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M. Annoni and T. Pievani,  Biolaw Journal-Rivista Di Biodiritto,  2021.
This article analyses three ethical arguments against the use of gene-drive technologies to control for, and possibly extinguish, a particular species of vector mosquitoes (Anopheles gambiae) causing the malaria infection. We conclude that none of these arguments is truly ...

WHO releases new guidance for deployment of genetically modified mosquitoes

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E. Henderson,  News Medical Life Sciences,  2021.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released new guidance for the deployment of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes to combat vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue. GM mosquitoes may carry a gene that kills female progeny and the technology can be used against the ...

Genetically modified mosquitoes; WHO issues new guidance for research

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DTE Staff,  Down To Earth,  2021.
Genetically-modified mosquitoes or GMMs have been used across the world to control mosquitoes. GMMs have been able to bring down the population of the Aedes aegypti by 90 per cent in countries like Brazil, the Cayman Islands, Panama and Malaysia. But there have never been any ...

WHO issues new guidance for research on genetically modified mosquitoes to fight malaria and other vector-borne diseases

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WHO,  reliefweb,  2021.
New guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) sets essential standards to inform future research and development on genetically modified mosquitoes, particularly in addressing issues relating to ethics, safety, affordability and effectiveness. Malaria and other ...

Guidance framework for testing of genetically modified mosquitoes, second edition

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WHO,  WHO-TDR,  2021.
For more than 2 decades, scientists have been working to harness the promise of molecular biology to develop genetically modified mosquitoes (GMMs) for use as public health tools to prevent the transmission of vector-borne diseases. Responding to a need for additional standards ...

The legal regulation of gene drive technologies

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C. Elves,  Univeristy of Oxford,  2021.
Gene drive technologies purport to provide a panacea and yet in doing so present unprecedented risks that threaten to change, potentially irreversibly, the way in which we live in the world. Gene drive technologies raise questions about what ends societies ought to seek for their ...

CRISPR-Cas and Its Wide-Ranging Applications: From Human Genome Editing to Environmental Implications, Technical Limitations, Hazards and Bioethical Issues

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R. Piergentili, A. Del Rio, F. Signore, F. U. Ronchi, E. Marinelli and S. Zaami,  Cells,  10:24. 2021.
The CRISPR-Cas system is a powerful tool for in vivo editing the genome of most organisms, including man. During the years this technique has been applied in several fields, such as agriculture for crop upgrade and breeding including the creation of allergy-free foods, for ...

Experimenting with co-development: a qualitative study of gene drive research for malaria control in Mali

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S. Hartley, K. Ledingham, R. Owen, S. Leonelli, S. Diarra and S. Diop,  Social Science and Medicine,  2021.
Our findings suggest co-development is opening up previously expert-dominated spaces as researchers attempt to take responsibility for the societal implications of their work. However, its main function is as a project management tool to enable and instrumentally support ...

Ethics of Genome Editing

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European Group on Ethics,  European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies,  2021.
This Opinion addresses the profound ethical questions raised and revived by them. It analyses various domains of application, from human health to animal experimentation, from livestock breeding to crop variety and to gene drives. With its wide view across areas, it identifies ...

The ethical scientist in a time of uncertainty

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L. Zoloth,  Cell,  184:1430-1439. 2021.
Using the example of gene drives for malaria control to explore the problem of deep uncertainty in biomedical research, I argue that profound uncertainty is an essential feature. Applying the language and presumptions of the discipline of philosophical ethics, I describe three ...

Differentiated impacts of human interventions on nature: Scaling the conversation on regulation of gene technologies

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J. A. Heinemann, D. J. Paull, S. Walker and B. Kurenbach,  Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene,  9. 2021.
Biotechnology describes a range of human activities in medicine, agriculture, and environmental management. One biotechnology in particular, gene technology, continues to evolve both in capacity and potential to benefit and harm society. The purpose of this article is to offer a ...

Ugandan stakeholder hopes and concerns about gene drive mosquitoes for malaria control: new directions for gene drive risk governance

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S. Hartley, R. D. J. Smith, A. Kokotovich, C. Opesen, T. Habtewold, K. Ledingham, B. Raymond and C. B. Rwabukwali,  Malaria Journal,  20:149. 2021.
The African Union’s High-Level Panel on Emerging Technologies identified gene drive mosquitoes as a priority technology for malaria elimination. The first field trials are expected in 5–10 years in Uganda, Mali or Burkina Faso. In preparation, regional and international ...

Experts’ moral views on gene drive technologies: a qualitative interview study

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N. de Graeff, K. R. Jongsma and A. L. Bredenoord,  BMC Medical Ethics,  22:25. 2021.
Gene drive technologies (GDTs) promote the rapid spread of a particular genetic element within a population of non-human organisms. Potential applications of GDTs include the control of insect vectors, invasive species and agricultural pests. Whether, and if so, under what ...

Hybrid mosquitoes? Evidence from rural Tanzania on how local communities conceptualize and respond to modified mosquitoes as a tool for malaria control

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M. F. Finda, F. O. Okumu, E. Minja, R. Njalambaha, W. Mponzi, B. B. Tarimo, P. Chaki, J. Lezaun, A. H. Kelly and N. Christofides,  Malaria Journal,  20:134. 2021.
Different forms of mosquito modifications are being considered as potential high-impact and low-cost tools for future malaria control in Africa. Although still under evaluation, the eventual success of these technologies will require high-level public acceptance. Understanding ...

Renew Europe | The science & ethics of gene drive technology from a conservation & development perspective

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Renew Europe,  Renew Europe,  2021.
This hearing intends to examine gene-drive technology and its possible impacts, including unintended ones and reveal the complexity of an unknown technology with inherent uncertainties. Scientists from different backgrounds in the field of gene-drive research will present most ...

A Code of Ethics for Gene Drive Research

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G. J. Annas, C. L. Beisel, K. Clement, A. Crisanti, S. Francis, M. Galardini, R. Galizi, J. Grünewald, G. Immobile, A. S. Khalil, R. Müller, V. Pattanayak, K. Petri, L. Paul, L. Pinello, A. Simoni, C. Taxiarchi and J. K. Joung,  The CRISPR Journal,  4:19:1-8. 2021.
A code of ethics can be a useful tool for all parties involved in the development and regulation of gene drives and can be used to help ensure that a balanced analysis of risks, benefits, and values is taken into consideration for the interest of society and humanity. We have ...

In Our Image: The Ethics of CRISPR Genome Editing

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J. C. Eissenberg,  Biomolecular Concepts,  12:1-7. 2021.
Here, I discuss the ethics surrounding the transformative CRISPR/Cas9mediated genome editing technology in the contexts of human genome editing to eradicate genetic disease and of gene drive technology to eradicate animal vectors of human disease.

How to engage communities on a large scale? Lessons from World Mosquito Program in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations]

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G. B. Costa, R. Smithyman, S. L. O'Neill and L. A. Moreira,  Gates Open Research,  2021.
Here we discuss and analyse the framework for community engagement implemented by the WMP in Brazil, during the large-scale deployment of the method in the municipalities of Niterói and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Our experience indicates that the community engagement work for ...

Playing God and tampering with nature: popular labels for real concerns in synthetic biology

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L. Carter, A. Mankad, E. V. Hobman and N. B. Porter,  Transgenic Research,  2021.
We present the findings from a large Australian study (N = 4593) which suggests ‘playing God’ objections and their variants can be multilayered and, at times, accompanied by meaningful information about risk perceptions. We use qualitative analysis of ope

Co‐developing a common glossary with stakeholders for engagement on new genetic approaches for malaria control in a local African setting

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E. Chemonges Wanyama, B. Dicko, L. Pare Toe, M. B. Coulibaly, N. Barry, K. Bayala Traore, A. Diabate, M. Drabo, J. K. Kayondo, S. Kekele, S. Kodio, A. D. Ky, R. R. Linga, E. Magala, W. I. Meda, S. Mukwaya, A. Namukwaya, B. Robinson, H. Samoura, K. Sanogo,  Malaria Journal,  20:53. 2021.
Scientific terminologies are mainly lacking in local languages, yet when research activities involve international partnership, the question of technical jargon and its translation is crucial for effective and meaningful communication with stakeholders. Target Malaria, a ...

Exploring Gene Drive Technologies in Agriculture, Biodiversity and Human Disease

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The GBIRd Partnership and The GeneConvene Global Collaborative,  Gene Drive Research Forum,  2021.
The GBIRd Partnership and The GeneConvene Global Collaborative recently collaborated through The Gene Drive Research Forum, to create and produce an engaging conversation between Drs. Fred Gould and Charles Godfray about gene drive technologies – the potential benefits and ...

Application of the Relationship-Based Model to Engagement for Field Trials of Genetically Engineered Malaria Vectors

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A. Kormos, G. C. Lanzaro, E. Bier, G. Dimopoulos, J. M. Marshall, J. Pinto, A. Aguiar dos Santos, A. Bacar, H. Sousa Pontes Sacramento Rompão and A. A. James,  The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,  2020.
Although guidelines and recommendations for engagement for gene drives have recently been described, we argue here that communities and stakeholders should lead the planning, development, and implementation phases of engagement. The RBM provides a new approach to the development ...

Scientists Set a Path for Field Trials of Gene Drive Organisms

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M. Aguilera,  UC San Diego News Center,  2020.
The modern rise of gene drive research, accelerated by CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology, has led to transformational waves rippling across science. Gene drive organisms (GDOs), developed with select traits that are genetically engineered to spread through a population, have ...

Engineered Gene Drives: Ecological, Environmental, and Societal Concerns

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J. Kuzma,  GMOs: Implications for Biodiversity Conservation and Ecological Processes,  2020.
This chapter overviews the types, purposes, and potential impacts of gene drive organisms (GDOs) and discusses challenges with foreseeing and assessing these impacts prior to their environmental release. It concludes with a few examples of risk analysis methods and governance ...

Transformation and slippage in co-production ambitions for global technology development: The case of gene drive

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K. Ledingham and S. Hartley,  Environmental Science & Policy,  116:78-85. 2020.
Co-production is an increasingly popular framework for knowledge generation, evaluation and decision making. Despite its potential to open up decisions and practices to the input of others, co-production regularly falls short of its transformative ambitions. Through documentary ...

Gene drives, species, and compassion for individuals in conservation biology

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Y. Rohwer,  Ethics, Policy and Environment,  2020.
In this paper I argue that these compassionate conservationists have a moral obligation to support the investigation and development of genetic modification technologies because of their potential to minimize suffering and eliminate killing in conservation. Furthermore, I will ...

The ethical way to alter organisms

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K. Esvelt,  Boston Globe,  2020.
As my colleagues and I first described in 2014, we can use CRISPR genome editing to duplicate the most powerful form of “gene drive,” a ubiquitous natural phenomenon that happens when a genetic change is inherited more frequently than usual. Encode the CRISPR machinery next ...

Ethics and vector-borne diseases

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Geneva: World Health Organization,  WHO Guidance,  2020.
The guidance was developed by an international group of experts in vector control, infectious disease ethics, maternal and child health, ecology and climate change, research and vaccine development, and public health communication. It examines a broad range of ethical ...

Bednets or Biotechnology: To Rescue Current Persons or Research for the Future?

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D. E. Callies,  Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences,  14. 2020.
After an exploration of the duty to rescue and cost-effectiveness analysis, I suggest we look towards the literature on intergenerational justice for a justifiable answer to the question of how we ought to allocate our malaria resources.

Socrates Untenured: Ethics, Experts, and the Public in the Synthetic Age

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C. Preston,  ISSUES in Science and Technology,  2020.
C. Preston (2020). Three tools have transformed biotechnology over the past decade and a half. Gene reading has made it possible to quickly sequence the genome of any living creature. Gene synthesis has made it possible to construct DNA sequences in the lab from constituent ...

Genome Editing 2020: Ethics and Human Rights in Germline Editing in Humans and Gene Drives in Mosquitoes

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G. J. Annas,  American Journal of Law and Medicine,  46:143-165. 2020.
G. J. Annas (2020). American Journal of Law and Medicine. doi: 10.1177/0098858820933492. I begin with a discussion of so far disastrously unsuccessful attempts to regulate germline editing in humans, including a summary of the first application of germline genome editing in ...

ENSSER | Gene Drive Webinar Series

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European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility,  2020.
This series of five Webinars by some of the authors of the interdisciplinary Gene Drive Report (2019) and were organised by four organisations of independent scientists: the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER), Critical Scientists ...

Species Extinction & the Case for a Global Moratorium on Gene Drives

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M. Imken,  ARC,  2020.
One million species are currently threatened with extinction, and humanity faces the challenge of stopping the sixth mass extinction in the history of our planet. Yet a new technology called Gene Drive enables human beings to reprogram wild species by genetic engineering and to ...

Gene drives: benefits, risks, and possible applications

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A. Deplazes-Zemp, U. Grossniklaus, F. Lefort, P. Müller, J. Romeis, A. Rüegsegger, N. Schoenenberger and E. Spehn,  Swiss Academies Factsheets,  15. 2020.
Gene drives are genetic elements that skew the pattern of inheritance of a given characteristic in sexually reproducing organisms. They can be used to spread a characteristic that can alter or even reduce the numbers of individuals in wild populations of a certain species. As ...

Islands as Laboratories: Indigenous Knowledge and Gene Drives in the Pacific

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R. I. Taitingfong,  Human Biology,  91:179-188. 2020.
This article argues that the genetic engineering technology known as gene drive must be evaluated in the context of the historic and ongoing impacts of settler colonialism and military experimentation on indigenous lands and peoples. After defining gene drive and previewing some ...

Position Paper on Integrated Vector Management: Strengthening AU Members’ Regulatory Capacities for Responsible Research Towards Elimination of Malaria in Africa

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African Union Development Agency - NEPAD,  AUDA-NEPAD,  2020.
Africa continues to bear a heavy brunt of the malaria which is a disease transmitted by the female Anopheles mosquito. Thousands of lives, mostly of young children, are lost every year; which undermines efforts deployed at various levels for increased life expectancy and improved ...

Bioethical issues in genome editing by CRISPR-Cas9 technology

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F. B. Ayanoglu, A. E. Elcin and Y. M. Elcin,  Turkish Journal of Biology,  44:110-120. 2020.
Genome editing technologies have led to fundamental changes in genetic science. Among them, CRISPR-Cas9 technology particularly stands out due to its advantages such as easy handling, high accuracy, and low cost. It has made a quick introduction in fields related to humans, ...

‘Gene Drive’ to curb malaria raises ethical questions as well

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Gyanedra Nath Mitra,  The Pioneer,  2020.
A new technology ‘Gene Drive’ for mosquito control is currently confined to the laboratory since it raises an ethical question, if such a technology could in future be misused to the detriment of humanity.

Regulation of GM Organisms for Invasive Species Control

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H. J. Mitchell and D. Bartsch,  Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology,  7:1-11. 2020.
Invasive species can cause significant harm to the environment, agriculture, and human health, but there are often very limited tools available to control their populations. Gene drives (GD) have been proposed as a new tool which could be used to control or eliminate such ...

Gene Drive Film

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Save Our Seeds,  2020.
This is a video based on the findings in GENE DRIVES: A report on their science, applications, social aspects, ethics and regulations which you can find here.  There was a Symposium on May 24, 2019 that covers the topics in the report and the presentations at that symposium can ...

The gene drive dilemma: We can alter entire species but should we?

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J. Kahn,  New York Times Magazine,  2020.
One early summer evening in 2018, the biologist Anthony James drove from his office at the University of California, Irvine, to the headquarters of the Creative Artists Agency, a sleek glass-and-steel high-rise in Los Angeles. There, roughly 200 writers, directors and producers ...

Scenario analysis on the use of rodenticides and sex-biasing gene drives for the removal of invasive house mice on islands

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M. E. Serr, R. X. Valdez, K. S. Barnhill-Dilling, J. Godwin, T. Kuiken and M. Booker,  Biological Invasions,  2020.
Since the 1960s conservation efforts have focused on recovering island biodiversity by eradicating invasive rodents. These eradication campaigns have led to considerable conservation gains, particularly for nesting seabirds. However, eradications are complex and lengthy endeavors ...

Beyond Mendelian genetics: Anticipatory biomedical ethics and policy implications for the use of CRISPR together with gene drive in humans.

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M. W. Nestor and R. L. Wilson,  Journal of Bioethical Inquiry,  2020:1-12. 2020.
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) genome editing has already reinvented the direction of genetic and stem cell research. For more complex diseases it allows scientists to simultaneously create multiple genetic changes to a single cell. ...

A typology of community and stakeholder engagement based on documented examples in the field of novel vector control

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C. E. Schairer, R. Taitingfong, O. S. Akbari and C. S. Bloss,  PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases,  13:e0007863. 2019.
Background Despite broad consensus on the importance of community and stakeholder engagement (CSE) for guiding the development, regulation, field testing, and deployment of emerging vector control technologies (such as genetically engineered insects), the types of activities ...

Articulating ‘free, prior and informed consent’ (FPIC) for engineered gene drives

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George, D. R., T. Kuiken and J. A. Delborne,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  286:20191484.. 2019.
Recent statements by United Nations bodies point to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) as a potential requirement in the development of engineered gene drive applications. As a concept developed in the context of protecting Indigenous rights to self-determination in land ...

Exterminator genes: The right to say no to ethics dumping

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Bassey-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 ...

A cross-sectional survey of biosafety professionals regarding genetically modified insects

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O’Brochta, D. A., W. K. Tonui, B. Dass and S. James,  Applied Biosafety,  2019:1-9. 2019.
Background:Genetic technologies such as gene editing and gene drive create challenges for existing frameworks used to assess risk and make regulatory determinations by governments and institutions. Insect genetic technologies including transgenics, gene editing, and gene drive ...

Gene drives in Africa – A Podcast

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Wakeford, 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 and new genetic manipulation in agriculture

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Terra de Direitos,  2019.
Gene drives are forms of genetic editing or manipulation of live organisms. They are the most dangerous forms of transgenics which edit genetic characteristics without necessarily including a new gene, but rather manipulating existing genes of live organisms, i.e. live organism ...

Efforts to enhance safety measures for CRISPR/Cas-based gene drive technology in Japan

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T. Tanaka, N. Tanaka, Y. Nagano, H. Kanuka, D. S. Yamamoto, N. Yamamoto, E. Nanba and T. Nishiuch,  Journal of Environment and Safety,  2019.
Gene drive is a powerful system that can spread a desirable genetic trait into an entire species and/or population of a certain region, bypassing Mendelian rules of inheritance. Recently, one of the genome editing technologies, CRISPR/Cas, has been developed, making it easier to ...

Two unresolved issues in community engagement for field trials of genetically modified mosquitoes

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D. B. Resnik,  Pathogens and Global Health,  113:238-245. 2019.
There is an emerging consensus among scientists, ethicists, and public health officials that substantive and effective engagement with communities and the wider public is required prior to releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into the environment.

Gene Drive Mosquitoes: Ethics, Environment and Efficacy

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L. Wilburn,  ScienceInnovationUnion,  2019.
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has recently donated over $75 million to fund gene drive mosquito research by Target Malaria , a consortium that aims to develop technology for malaria control. The first planned release of gene drive mosquitoes is set to happen over the next ...

Vereinigung Deutscher Wissenschaftler e.V. | Gene Drive Symposium-Critical Science Switzerland

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Critical Scientists Switzerland; European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility; Vereinigung Deutscher Wissenschaftler,  2019.

Gene Drives: A report on their science, applications, social aspects, ethics and regulations

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H. Dressel,  Critical Scientists Switzerland; European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility; Vereinigung Deutscher Wissenschaftler,  2019.
Engineered Gene Drives are a new form of genetic modification that provides the tools for permanently modifying or potentially even eradicating species or populations in the wild. Unlike the previous genetically modified organisms (GMOs), gene drive organisms (GDOs) are not meant ...

Gene drives and the international biodiversity regime

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F. Rabitz,  Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law,  2019.
Gene drives are genetic modifications designed for rapidly diffusing traits throughout a target population. They are currently being proposed as biological control agents to combat, for instance, invasive alien species and disease vectors. They also raise concerns regarding their ...

Gene drive organisms: What Africa should know about actors, motives and threats to biodiversity and food systems

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Sirinathsinghji, 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 ...

Does the U.S. public support using gene drives in agriculture? And what do they want to know?

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Jones, MSD, Jason A.; Elsensohn, Johanna; Mitchell, Paul D.; Brown, Zachary S.,  Science Advances,  5:eaau8462. 2019.
Gene drive development is progressing more rapidly than our understanding of public values toward these technologies. We analyze a statistically representative survey (n = 1018) of U.S. adult attitudes toward agricultural gene drives. When informed about potential risks, ...

Gene drives as a response to infection and resistance

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Hayirli, TCM, P.F.,  Infection and Drug Resistance,  12:229-234. 2019.
Vector-borne infectious diseases continue to be a major threat to public health. Although some prevention and treatment modalities exist for these diseases, resistance to such modalities, exacerbated by global climate change, remains a fundamental challenge. Developments in ...

Gene drive gone wild: exploring deliberative possibilities by developing One Health ethics

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Capps, B,  Law, Innovation and Technology,  11:231-256. 2019.
Gene editing may be used to engineer organisms that are better or worse adapted to survival. Coupled with gene drives ? molecular genetic strategies that perpetuate specific phenotypes in a target species ? it would now be possible to edit wild animal populations that impact on ...

Knowledge engagement in gene drive research for malaria control

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Hartley, ST, D.; Ledingham, K.; Coulibaly, M.; Diabate, A.; Dicko, B.; Diop, S.; Kayondo, J.; Namukwaya, A.; Nourou, B.; Toe, L. P.,  PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases,  13:e0007233. 2019.
Scientists and funding bodies have made repeated calls for public engagement in gene drive. In 2016, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) published its report, Gene Drives on the Horizon: Advancing Science, Navigating Uncertainty, and Aligning ...

The ethical landscape of gene drive research

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Callies, DE,  Bioethics,  33:1091-1097. 2019.
Gene drive technology has immense potential. The ability to bypass the laws of Mendelian inheritance and almost ensure the transmission of specific genetic material to future generations creates boundless possibilities. But alongside these boundless possibilities are major social ...

CRISPR-Cas9. The greatest advancement in genetic edition techniques requires an ethical reflection

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Gomez-Tatay, LA, J.,  Cuadernos De Bioetica,  30:171-185. 2019.
The adaptation of the CRISPR system as a genetic editing tool has led to a revolution in many fields of application, as this technique is considerably faster, easier to perform and more efficient than predecessor techniques. However, some of these applications raise objective ...

Promises and perils of gene drives: Navigating the communication of complex, post-normal science

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Brossard, DB, Pam; Gould, Fred; Wirz, Christopher D.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  116:7692-7697. 2019.
In November of 2017, an interdisciplinary panel discussed the complexities of gene drive applications as part of the third Sackler Colloquium on “The Science of Science Communication.” The panel brought together a social scientist, life scientist, and journalist to discuss ...

CRISPR ethics: Moral considerations for applications of a powerful tool

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Brokowski, C. and Adli, M.,  Journal of Molecular Biology,  431:88-101. 2019.
With the emergence of CRISPR technology, targeted editing of a wide variety of genomes is no longer an abstract hypothetical, but occurs regularly. As application areas of CRISPR are exceeding beyond research and biomedical therapies, new and existing ethical concerns abound ...

A Question of Consent: Exterminator Mosquitoes in Burkina Faso

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ETC group,  2019.
Target Malaria’s planned release of GMO mosquitos is step toward release of gene drive mosquitoes, a high-risk technology aimed at the elimination of entire species. Hundreds of organizations have demanded a moratorium on the use of this technology outside of ...

The Release of Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes in Burkina Faso: Bioeconomy of Science, Public Engagement and Trust in Medicine

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Beisel, UG, J. K.,  African Studies Review,  62:164-173. 2019.
Malaria, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, continues to be responsible for a significant number of disease episodes and childhood deaths on the African continent. A variety of mosquito control strategies are currently inplace, but since case numbers are rising again, and drug ...

Governing extinction in the era of gene editing

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Monast, JJ,  North Carolina Law Review,  97:1329-1358. 2019.
CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology (“CRISPR”) offers a potential solution for some of the world’s critical conservation challenges. Scientists are harnessing CRISPR to expand genetic diversity of endangered species, control invasive species, or enhance species’ ...

Gene drives in plants: opportunities and challenges for weed control and engineered resilience

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Barrett, LGL, Mathieu; Kumaran, Nagalingam; Glassop, Donna; Raghu, S.; Gardiner, Donald M.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  286:9. 2019.
Plant species, populations and communities are under threat from climate change, invasive pathogens, weeds and habitat fragmentation. Despite considerable research effort invested in genome engineering for crop improvement, the development of genetic tools for the management of ...

Gene driving the farm: who decides, who owns, and who benefits?

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Montenegro 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

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Barnhill-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 ...

The ethics of genome editing in non-human animals: a systematic review of reasons reported in the academic literature

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de Graeff, NJ, K. R.; Johnston, J.; Hartley, S.; Bredenoord, A. L.,  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  374:1-25. 2019.
In recent years, new genome editing technologies have emerged that can edit the genome of non-human animals with progressively increasing efficiency. Despite ongoing academic debate about the ethical implications of these technologies, no comprehensive overview of this debate ...

Informed consent and community engagement in open field research: lessons for gene drive science

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Singh, JA,  BMC Medical Ethics,  20:54. 2019.
The development of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system has generated new possibilities for the use of gene drive constructs to reduce or suppress mosquito populations to levels that do not support disease transmission. Despite this prospect, social resistance to genetically ...

Two minutes to midnight-what international law can do about genome editing

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Lee, TL,  Asian Journal of Wto & International Health Law and Policy,  14:227-265. 2019.
With its ability to transform the ecosystem, gene drives, a powerful genome-editing technology, poses nuanced regulatory challenges. In particular, as gene drives can override the normal rule of inheritance, where the impacts of gene-drive modified organisms on the environment ...

An introduction to the proceedings of the environmental release of engineered pests: Building an international governance framewor

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Brown, Z. S., L. Carter and F. Gould,  BMC Proceedings,  12:10. 2018.
In October 2016, a two-day meeting of 65 academic, government and industry professionals was held at North Carolina State University for early-stage discussions about the international governance of gene drives: potentially powerful new technologies that can be used for the ...

Towards inclusive social appraisal: risk, participation and democracy in governance of synthetic biology

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Stirling, A., K. R. Hayes and J. Delborne,  BMC Proceedings,  12:15. 2018.
Frameworks that govern the development and application of novel products, such as the products of synthetic biology, should involve all those who are interested or potentially affected by the products. The governance arrangements for novel products should also provide a ...

Public engagement pathways for emerging GM insect technologies

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Burgess, M. M., J. D. Mumford and J. V. Lavery,  BMC Proceedings,  12(Suppl 8):12. 2018.
Policy and management related to the release of organisms generated by emerging biotechnologies for pest management should be informed through public engagement. Regulatory decisions can be conceptually distinguished into the development of frameworks, the assessment of the ...

GM insect pests under the Brazilian regulatory framework: development and perspectives

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Andrade, P. P., M. A. da Silva Ferreira, M. S. Muniz and A. de Casto Lira-Neto,  BMC Proceedings,  12:15. 2018.
The emergence of new technologies for genetic modification has broadened the range of possible new products. The regulations of many countries that could benefit from these new products may not be prepared to assess risks and enable science-based decision-making. This is ...

Regulation of emerging gene technologies in India

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Ahuja, V.,  BMC Proceedings,  12:14. 2018.
In India, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the products thereof are regulated under the “Rules for the manufacture, use, import, export & storage of hazardous microorganisms, genetically engineered organisms or cells, 1989” (referred to as Rules, 1989) notified under ...

Population Engineering | Gene Drive by CRISPR-CAS9

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SciToons,  2018.
The CRISPR-CAS9 genome editing technology is opening up previously inconceivable possibilities for the manipulation of organisms. Our ethical discussion appears to be far behind the pace of technological development. In this new SciToons video, we address how CRISPR-CAS9 can be ...

Ethics of sculpting evolution

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K. Esvelt,  PopTech,  2018.
How might supervillains take over the world, and what can we do about it? Kevin Esvelt, the first to identify the potential for CRISPR “gene drive” systems to alter entire populations of organisms, is calling for a new scientific method that is both open and gives ...

Letter: Gene Drive and Trust in Science

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Boëte, C,  GeneWatch,  2018.
In a recent paper, Emerson et al. present five principles for gene drive research that they argue should be adopted by its sponsors and supporters: 1) advancing quality science to promote the public good; 2) the promotion of stewardship, safety, and good governance principles; 3) ...

Editing nature: Local roots of global governance

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Kofler, N.C., James P.; Kuzma, Jennifer; Marris, Emma; Esvelt, Kevin; Nelson, Michael Paul; Newhouse, Andrew; Rothschild, Lynn J.; Vigliotti, Vivian S.; Semenov, Misha; Jacobsen, Rowan; Dahlman, James E.; Prince, Shannon; Caccone, Adalgisa; Brown, Timothy,  Science,  2018.

Gene Drives

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SciLine,  SciLine,  2018.
For many years now, scientists have been able to alter genes inside microbial, plant, and animal cells to change organisms’ traits, creating, for example, plants that produce their own protective insecticides and fish that grow to maturity almost twice as fast as normal. But ...

RealSciLine | Gene Drives Media Briefing

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Rick Weiss,  RealSciLine,  2018.
Gene drives represent a new take on genetic engineering offering previously impossible means of fighting disease-spreading insects and invasive species but also raising the specter of ecological disruption. This briefing reviews the current status of gene-drive technology, ...

The ethical implications of population suppression and the irreversibility of gene drives

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J. Kim,  International Journal of Life Sciences Research,  2018.
This paper aims to examine the current situation by presenting important ethical arguments that include Chardin’s principle of irreversibility and Weiss’ beliefs on intergenerational equity, ideals upheld by the United Nations

Regulating animals with gene drive systems: lessons from the regulatory assessment of a genetically engineered mosquito

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Z. Meghani and J. Kuzma,  Journal of Responsible Innovation,  5:S203-S222. 2018.
In this paper, we consider the question of whether the United States Food and Drug Administration is prepared to effectively regulate insects and other animals with gene drives. Given the profound impact that gene drives could have on species and ecosystems, their use is a ...

Means and ends of effective global risk assessments for genetic pest management

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Turner, GB, Camilla; Roda, Lucia,  BMC Proceedings,  12:13. 2018.
The development and use of genetic technologies is regulated by countries according to their national laws and governance structures. Legal frameworks require comprehensive technical evidence to be submitted by an applicant on the biology of the organism, its safety to human, ...

Can We Engineer Social Ecosystems?

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Kevin Esvelt,  TEDxCambridgeSalon,  2018.
Kevin Esvelt is director of the Sculpting Evolution group, which invents new ways to study and influence the evolution of ecosystems. By carefully developing and testing these methods with openness and humility, the group seeks to address difficult ecological problems for the ...

Development of community of practice to support quantitative risk assessment for synthetic biology products: contaminant bioremediation and invasive carp control as cases

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Trump, BF, C.; Rycroft, T.; Wood, M. D.; Bandolin, N.; Cains, M.; Cary, T.; Crocker, F.; Friedenberg, N. A.; Gurian, P.; Hamilton, K.; Hoover, J.J.; Meyer, C.; Pokrzywinski, K.; Ritterson, R.; Schulte, P.; Warner, C. ; Perkins, E.; Linkov, I.,  Environmental Systems and Decisions,  38:517-527. 2018.
Synthetic biology has the potential for a broad array of applications. However, realization of this potential is challenged by the paucity of relevant data for conventional risk assessment protocols, a limitation due to to the relative nascence of the field, as well as the poorly ...

The roles of ethics in gene drive research and governance

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Thompson, PB,  Journal of Responsible Innovation,  5:S159-S179. 2018.
Ethics research queries the norms and values that shape the goals and justification for gene drive projects, and that might lead to issue or opposition to such projects. A framework for organizing ethics research is offered. In addition to basic research ethics and risk ...

Harnessing gene drive

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Min, JS, Andrea L.; Najjar, Devora; Esvelt, Kevin M.,  Journal of Responsible Innovation,  5:S40-S65. 2018.
When scientists alter the genome of an organism, we typically reduce its ability to reproduce in the wild. This limitation has prevented researchers from rendering wild insects unable to spread disease, programing pests to ignore our crops, using genetics to precisely remove ...

Strengthening regulatory capacity for gene drives in Africa: leveraging NEPAD’s experience in establishing regulatory systems for medicines and GM crops in Africa

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Glover, BA, Olalekan; Savadogo, Moussa; Timpo, Samuel; Lemgo, Godwin; Sinebo, Woldeyesus; Akile, Sunday; Obukosia, Silas; Ouedraogo, Jeremy; Ndomondo-Sigonda, Margareth; Koch, Muffy; Makinde, Diran; Ambali, Aggrey,  BMC Proceedings,  12:1-10. 2018.
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Agency recognizes that Africa is in a period of transition and that this demands exploring and harnessing safe advances made in science-based innovations including modern biotechnology. To advance the science of biotechnology ...

Genetically engineered mosquitoes, Zika and other arboviruses, community engagement, costs, and patents: Ethical issues

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Meghani, ZB, Christophe,  PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases,  12:e0006501. 2018.
We discuss here key ethical questions raised by the use of GE insects, with the aim of fostering discussion between the public, researchers, policy makers, healthcare organizations, and regulatory agencies at the local, national, and international levels. We affect that goal by ...

Community engagement and field trials of genetically modified insects and animals

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Neuhaus, C. P.,  Hastings Center Report,  48:25-36. 2018.
New techniques for the genetic modification of organisms are creating new strategies for addressing persistent public health challenges. For example, the company Oxitec has conducted field trials internationally?and has attempted to conduct field trials in the United States?of a ...

Making policies about emerging technologies

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Kaebnick, G. E. and M. K. Gusmano,  Hastings Center Report,  48:S2-S11. 2018.
Can we make wise policy decisions about still-emerging technologies?decisions that are grounded in facts yet anticipate unknowns and promote the public's preferences and values? There is a widespread feeling that we should try. There also seems to be widespread agreement that the ...

Gene Drives Can Wipe Out Entire Species… Or Save Them

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Gizmodo,  2017.
Bill Gates and other investors have poured millions into gene drives. So what is the technology and why are scientists worried about it?

Centre for Effective Altruism | Gene drive and the case for reforming research

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K. Esvelt, N. Labenz, G. Church,  Centre for Effective Altruism,  2017.
The wisdom with which we develop and deploy new technologies will define the future of our civilization. Why do we conduct reseearch in small teams of specialists who cannot reliably anticipate consequences on their own? Might it be better to share our best ideas and plans with ...

Ethical issues associated with vector-borne diseases. Report of a WHO scoping meeting, Geneva, 23–24 February 2017

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Geneva: World Health Organization,  Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO, WHO Reference Number: WHO/HTM/NTD/VEM/2017. 2017.

Gene Drives: A scientific case for a complete and perpetual ban

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Latham, J,  GeneWatch,  2017.
One of the central issues of our day is how to safely manage the outputs of industrial innovation. Novel products incorporating nanotechnology, biotechnology, rare metals, microwaves, novel chemicals, and more, enter the market on a daily basis. Yet none of these products come ...

Sterile Insect Techniques, GE mosquitoes and gene drives

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Hanson, J,  GeneWatch,  2017.
One of the great temptations in any field is to promote your solution to a problem as the only solution. The recent application of gene drives to sterilize mosquitoes that transmit malaria or viruses like dengue and zika is an example of this tendency to first develop a ...

Ethical implications of fighting malaria with CRISPR/Cas9

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Patrão Neves, MD, Christiane,  BMJ Global Health,  2:e000396. 2017.
Genome editing is a new, cheap and versatile technique which has great promise to combat vector-borne diseases. The current ethical debate worldwide is mainly concentrating on the dangers of germline intervention and less so on the potential for fighting vector-borne diseases. ; ...

Principles for gene drive research

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Emerson, CJ, Stephanie; Littler, Katherine; Randazzo, Filippo,  Science,  358:1135. 2017.
The recent outbreak of Zika virus in the Americas renewed attention on the importance of vector-control strategies to fight the many vector-borne diseases that continue to inflict suffering around the world. In 2015, there were ?212 million infections and a death every minute ...

Agricultural pest control with CRISPR-based gene drive: time for public debate: Should we use gene drive for pest control?

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Courtier?Orgogozo, VM, Baptiste; Boëte, Christophe,  EMBO Reports,  18:878-880. 2017.
Gene drive based on the CRISPR/Cas-9 gene editing system is a powerful technology that promotes the inheritance of the gene drive tool itself via sexual reproduction and can therefore spread quickly through a population. It holds great potential for public health and humanitarian ...

Unintended consequences of 21st century technology for agricultural pest management

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Young, SL,  EMBO reports,  18:1478-1478. 2017.
Comment on Agricultural pest control with CRISPR-based gene drive: time for public debate by Courtier-Orgogozo et al.

Teilhard de Chardin’s oeuvre within an ongoing discussion of a gene drive release for public health reasons

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Cartolovni, A,  Life Sciences, Society and Policy,  13:18. 2017.
Within the domain of public health, vector-borne diseases are among the most vehemently discussed issues. Recent scientific breakthroughs in genome editing technology provided a solution to this issue in the form of a gene drive that might decrease and even eradicate vector-borne ...

Eradicating Mosquitoes? The promise and peril of gene drive technologies.

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Jun, B-O,  Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics,  27:113-116. 2017.
This paper discusses the ethical issues associated with genetic modification of mosquito species that are human disease vectors. The Oxitec genetically changed mosquito—a variant of a species called Aedes aegypti, OX513A, is taken as an example. The benefits and risks are ...

The End of the GMO? Genome Editing, Gene Drives and New Frontiers of Plant Technology

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K. L. Hefferon and R. J. Herring,  Review of Agrarian Studies,  7. 2017.
mprovements to agriculture will constitute one of the world’s greatest challenges in the coming century. Political and social controversies, as well as complications of plant breeding, intellectual property, and regulation, have compromised the promised impact of genetically ...

Gene drive and collective oversight

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Esvelt, K,  GeneWatch,  2017.
As one of the scientists who first described how CRISPR could create gene drive systems capable of altering wild; populations, I am morally responsible for the consequences. I'm writing to you in the hope that the people most; critical of the very idea can help. Bluntly, gene ...

Gene Drives on the Horizon: Advancing Science, Navigating Uncertainty, and Aligning Research with Public Values

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U. S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,  The National Academies Press,  2016.
Scientists have studied gene drives for more than 50 years. The development of a powerful genome editing tool in 2012, CRISPR/Cas9,1 led to recent breakthroughs in gene drive research that built on that half century’s worth of knowledge, and stimulated new discussion of the ...

Gene Drive Technology: Where is the Future?

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National Academy of Sciences Engineering Medicine,  BioScience Talks,  2016.
Gene drives have the potential to revolutionize approaches to major public health, conservation, and agricultural problems. For instance, gene drives might one day prevent mosquitoes from spreading a variety of deadly diseases, including Zika virus, malaria, and others. A form of ...

Engineering the wild: Gene drives and intergenerational equity

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J. Kuzma and L. Rawls,  Jurimetrics,  56:279-296. 2016.
New genetic engineering methods are allowing scientists to insert genes into organisms that have the potential to spread themselves throughout natural populations upon the release of individuals carrying those genes. Gene drive technology is being researched and developed for ...

Genome editing: intellectual property and product development in plant biotechnology

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Schinkel, HS, S.,  Plant Cell Reports,  35:1487-1491. 2016.
Genome editing is a revolutionary technology in molecular biology. While scientists are fascinated with the unlimited possibilities provided by directed and controlled changes in DNA in eukaryotes and have eagerly adopted such tools for their own experiments, an understanding of ...

Driven to extinction? The ethics of eradicating mosquitoes with gene-drive technologies

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Pugh, J,  Journal of Medical Ethics,  42:578-581. 2016.
Mosquito-borne diseases represent a significant global disease burden, and recent outbreaks of such diseases have led to calls to reduce mosquito populations. Furthermore, advances in gene-drive' technology have raised the prospect of eradicating certain species of mosquito via ...

What is a Gene Drive?

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STAT,  2015.
This video produced by STAT, an e-news site focusing on health and medicine (https://www.statnews.com/). This video simply illustrates what geneticists mean by gene drive, and how homing-based gene drive work. (Note: it does not indicate that there are other mechanisms of gene ...

Playing God with mosquitoes? We humans have loftier aims.

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Pugh, J,  The Conversation,  2015.
In a startling development in “gene-drive” technology, a team of researchers at the University of California has succeeded in creating genetically modified mosquitoes incapable of spreading the malaria parasite to humans, and which could potentially spread this trait rapidly ...

National Academies of Science | Workshop: Science, Ethics, and Governance Considerations for Gene Drive Research – 2015

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National Academy of Sciences Engineering Medicine,  National Academy of Sciences,  2015.

Opinion: Is CRISPR-based gene drive a biocontrol silver bullet or global conservation threat?

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Webber, BLR, S.; Edwards, O. R.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  112:10565-10567. 2015.
Scientists have recognized the potential for applying gene drive technologies to the control of invasive species for several years, yet debate about the application of gene drive has been primarily restricted to mosquitoes. Recent developments in clustered regularly interspaced ...

Concerning RNA-guided gene drives for the alteration of wild populations

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Esvelt, KMS, Andrea L.; Catteruccia, Flaminia; Church, George M.,  eLife,  3:e03401. 2014.
Gene drives may be capable of addressing ecological problems by altering entire; populations of wild organisms, but their use has remained largely theoretical due to technical; constraints. Here we consider the potential for RNA-guided gene drives based on the CRISPR; nuclease ...

Guidance on the environmental risk assessment of genetically modified animals.

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EFSA GMO Panel (EFSA Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms),  EFSA Journal,  11:3200. 2013.
This document provides guidance for the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of living genetically modified (GM) animals, namely fish, insects and mammals and birds, to be placed on the European Union (EU) market in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 or Directive ...

Ethical issues in field trials of genetically modified disease-resistant mosquitoes

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D. B. Resnik,  Developing World Bioethics,  14:37-46. 2012.
Mosquito-borne diseases take a tremendous toll on human populations, especially in developing nations. In the last decade, scientists have developed mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to prevent transmission of mosquito-borne diseases, and field trials have been ...

The Nagoya – Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

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Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity,  Convention on Biodiversity,  2011:1-16. 2011.
Adopted as a supplementary agreement to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the Supplementary Protocol aims to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity by providing international rules and procedures in the field of liability and redress relating to ...

Ethical, legal and social aspects of the approach in Sudan

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B. B. El Sayed, C. A. Malcolm, A. Babiker, E. M. Malik, M. A. H. El Tayeb, N. S. Saeed, A. H. D. Nugud and B. G. J. Knols,  Malaria Journal,  8:S3. 2009.
The global malaria situation, especially in Africa, and the problems frequently encountered in chemical control of vectors such as insecticide resistance, emphasize the urgency of research, development and implementation of new vector control technologies that are applicable at ...

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity

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Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity,  Convention on Biodiversity,  2000:1-19. 2000.
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international agreement which aims to ensure the safe handling, transport and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on ...