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Considerations for the governance of gene drive organisms.

ABSTRACT: Governance is a broader and more flexible concept than statute-driven regulations as it incorporates components outside the latter's remit. Considerations of governance are critical in the development of emerging biotechnologies such as gene drive organisms. These have been proposed or are being developed to address public and environmental health issues not addressed easily by conventional means. Here, we consider how the concept of governance differs from statute-driven regulation with reference to the role each may play in the development of gene drive organisms. First, we discuss existing statute-based regulatory systems. Second, we consider whether novel risks or different concerns derive from gene drive organisms, concentrating on characteristics that contribute to public health or environmental risk and uncertainties that may affect risk perceptions. Third, we consider public engagement, outlining how existing statute-driven regulatory systems and other governance mechanisms may provide opportunities for constructive interactions. Finally, we provide some observations that may help address science- and values-based concerns in a governance space larger than that of statute-driven regulatory systems.

SUBMITTER: Rudenko L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7025691 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Considerations for the governance of gene drive organisms.

Rudenko Larisa L Palmer Megan J MJ Oye Kenneth K

Pathogens and global health 20180601 4

Governance is a broader and more flexible concept than statute-driven regulations as it incorporates components outside the latter's remit. Considerations of governance are critical in the development of emerging biotechnologies such as gene drive organisms. These have been proposed or are being developed to address public and environmental health issues not addressed easily by conventional means. Here, we consider how the concept of governance differs from statute-driven regulation with referen ...[more]

PMID: 29975593

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Project description:Gene drive organisms are a recent development created by using methods of genetic engineering; they inherit genetic constructs that are passed on to future generations with a higher probability than with Mendelian inheritance. There are some specific challenges inherent to the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of genetically engineered (GE) gene drive organisms because subsequent generations of these GE organisms might show effects that were not observed or intended in the former generations. Unintended effects can emerge from interaction of the gene drive construct with the heterogeneous genetic background of natural populations and/or be triggered by changing environmental conditions. This is especially relevant in the case of gene drives with invasive characteristics and typically takes dozens of generations to render the desired effect. Under these circumstances, "next generation effects" can substantially increase the spatial and temporal complexity associated with a high level of uncertainty in ERA. To deal with these problems, we suggest the introduction of a new additional step in the ERA of GE gene drive organisms that takes 3 criteria into account: the biology of the target organisms, their naturally occurring interactions with the environment (biotic and abiotic), and their intended biological characteristics introduced by genetic engineering. These 3 criteria are merged to form an additional step in ERA, combining specific "knowns" and integrating areas of "known unknowns" and uncertainties, with the aim of assessing the spatiotemporal controllability of GE gene drive organisms. The establishment of assessing spatiotemporal controllability can be used to define so-called "cut-off criteria" in the risk analysis of GE gene drive organisms: If it is likely that GE gene drive organisms escape spatiotemporal controllability, the risk assessment cannot be sufficiently reliable because it is not conclusive. Under such circumstances, the environmental release of the GE gene drive organisms would not be compatible with the precautionary principle (PP). Integr Environ Assess Manag 2020;00:1-14. © 2020 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Dataset Information

Considerations for the governance of gene drive organisms.

Publications

Considerations for the governance of gene drive organisms.

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