This blog employs a food ethics lens to delve into some of the ethical issues surrounding gene-editing, assessing intended and unintended consequences. Issues discussed include patents, herbicide-tolerant traits, gene drives and food safety.
This Opinion article argues that to achieve a more sustainable agrifood production that relies on genetic engineering, governance systems related to new agrifood biotechnologies should incorporate a broader array of environmental, health, ethical, and societal factors to ensure their sustainability in the long-term. To facilitate this process, we propose a set of parameters to help evaluate the sustainability of agrifoods that rely on genetic engineering. We then discuss major challenges and opportunities for formalizing sustainability parameters in US governance policy and decision-making systems. Overall, this work contributes to further developing a more comprehensive assessment framework that aims to minimize potential risks and maximize potential benefits of agrifood biotechnology while also fostering sustainability.
This review discusses the potential environmental and health risks associated with new genomic techniques (NGTs), which create novel genotypes and traits beyond those produced by conventional breeding or earlier genetic engineering methods. It highlights that large-scale releases of multiple NGT organisms—across species and traits—could lead to interactions and cumulative effects that exceed the risks of individual modifications. The authors argue that risk assessments must account for these combined and indirect effects, not just single events, and recommend a precautionary, prospective technology assessment to guide regulators in limiting release scales and minimizing unintended interactions in the environment.
This article makes two interventions. First, it identifies the discursive continuity linking genome editing and the earlier technology of genetic modification. Second, it offers a suite of recommendations regarding how lessons learned from GM crops might be integrated into future breeding programmes focused on genome editing. Ultimately, the authors argue that donors, policymakers and scientists should move beyond the genome towards systems-level thinking by prioritizing the co-development of technologies with farmers; using plant material that is unencumbered by intellectual property restrictions and therefore accessible to resource-poor farmers; and acknowledging that seeds are components of complex and dynamic agroecological production systems. If these lessons are not heeded, genome-editing projects are in danger of repeating mistakes of the past
Humanity is under pressure to identify sustainable climate change mitigation strategies that also progress developmental and environmental goals. Urgency creates greater risk of superficial actions that could accelerate climate change. We use recent advances in plant productivity through enhanced photosynthesis to demonstrate the pitfalls of defining objectives as a vacant biotechnological service. Recast as a goal to improve well-being and nutrition, climate change-exacerbating trade-offs are easier to avoid and payoffs include climate change mitigation. These insights emerge from linking new work in both molecular biology and anthropology. We suggest a strategy for addressing the adverse effects of climate change that better accommodates the voices of nontechnical public and has a superior navigational memory that optimises progress towards sustainable solutions.
Here, we systematically review the scientific literature for studies that have investigated unintended genomic alterations in plants modified by the following GM techniques: Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated gene transfer, biolistic bombardment, and CRISPR-Cas9 delivered via Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer (DNA-based), biolistic bombardment (DNA-based) and as ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs). The results of our literature review show that the impact of such techniques in host genomes varies from small nucleotide polymorphisms to large genomic variation, such as segmental duplication, chromosome truncation, trisomy, chromothripsis, breakage fusion bridge, including large rearrangements of DNA vector-backbone sequences. We have also reviewed the type of analytical method applied to investigate the genomic alterations and found that only five articles used whole genome sequencing in their analysis methods. In addition, larger structural variations detected in some studies would not be possible without long-read sequencing strategies, which shows a potential underestimation of such effects in the literature. As new technologies are constantly evolving, a more thorough examination of prospective analytical methods should be conducted in the future.
This review examines studies on unintended genetic alterations caused by traditional and modern genetic modification techniques, including Agrobacterium-mediated transfer, biolistic bombardment, and CRISPR-Cas9 (delivered by various methods). Findings show that these techniques can produce a wide range of unintended genomic changes—from small mutations to major structural variations like chromosome truncations and large DNA rearrangements. Only a few studies used whole-genome or long-read sequencing, suggesting many such effects may be underestimated. The authors emphasize the need for improved analytical methods to better detect and assess these unintended modifications, helping regulators evaluate the safety of genetically modified and gene-edited organisms.
To avoid past mistakes of under- or miscommunication about possible impacts, we need open, transparent, and inclusive societal debate on the nature of the science of gene (editing) technologies, on how to use them, and whether they contribute to sustainable solutions to societal and environmental challenges. To be trustworthy, GMO regulation must demonstrate the authorities’ ability to manage the scientific, socio-economic, environmental, and ethical complexities and uncertainties associated with NGTs. Regulators and authorities should give equal attention to the reflexive and the emotional aspects of trust and make room for honest public and stakeholder inclusion processes.
Germany’s Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) presents its position on an international discussion surrounding research approaches to the genetic modification of wild organisms. Conclusions include:
Scientists are exploring potential gene drive applications for managing invasive species and building resilience in keystone species threatened by climate change. The possibility to use gene drive for these conservation purposes has triggered significant interest in how to govern its development and eventual applications. We conducted qualitative documentary analysis to examine the range and substance of principles emerging in the governance of conservation gene drive. Such analysis aimed to better understand the aspirations guiding these applications and how scientists and other experts imagine their responsibility in this field. We found a collection of recommendations and prescriptions that could be organised into a set of seven emerging principles intended to shape the governance of gene drive in conservation: broad and empowered engagement; public acceptance; decision-making informed by broad ranging considerations, state and international collaboration; ethical frameworks; diverse expertise; and responsible self-regulation by developers. We lay bare these emergent principles, analyzing the way in which they are valued, prioritized, and their strengths and weaknesses.
