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Implications and Lessons From the Introduction of Genome-Edited Food Products in Japan.

ABSTRACT: Japan clarified its regulatory approaches for products derived from genome editing technologies in 2019. Consequently, Japan has become a pioneer in the social implementation of such technologies, as to date, the notification process for three products, GABA-enriched tomato, fleshier red sea bream, and high-growth tiger puffer, has been completed. However, this has led to questions about how this was achieved, given the poor consumer acceptance and low public support for genetically modified (GM) foods in the past. This paper describes Japan's regulatory approaches and their implementation guidelines for products created using genome editing technologies. It explains the governance of genome editing technologies and how the derived products have been introduced into society. The three factors that made this possible include: 1) improved R&D environments as a result of government-led innovation policy and regulations which have sought a balance between science and social demand 2) changes in the players (i.e. university startups), that engage in R&D and the strategies used for social introduction, and 3) social value changes-the recent rise in momentum for sustainable development goals (SDGs) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. The lessons and challenges in terms of R&D policy development and regulation from these analyses are presented. As the market size and social impact of genome-edited food products is limited, it is too early to fully assess this topic for Japan and thus, the analysis in this study is preliminary and must be revisited in the coming years.

SUBMITTER: Matsuo M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9258185 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:In recent years, the research and development of genome editing technology have been progressing rapidly, and the commercial use of genome-edited soybean started in the United States in 2019. A preceding study's results found that there is public concern with regard to the safety of high-tech foods, such as genetically modified foods and genome-edited foods. Twitter, one of the most popular social networks, allows users to post their opinions instantaneously, making it an extremely useful tool to collect what people are actually saying online in a timely manner. Therefore, it was used for collecting data on the users' concerns with and expectations of high-tech foods. This study collected and analyzed Twitter data on genome-edited foods and their labeling from May 25 to October 15 in 2019. Of 14,066 unique user IDs, 94.9% posted 5 or less tweets, whereas 64.8% tweeted only once, indicating that the majority of users who tweeted on this issue are not as intense, as they posted tweets consistently. After a process of refining, there were 28,722 tweets, of which 2,536 tweets (8.8%) were original, 326 (1.1%) were replies, and 25,860 (90%) were retweets. The numbers of tweets increased in response to government announcements and news content in the media. A total of six prominent peaks were detected during the investigation period, proving that Twitter could serve as a tool for monitoring degree of users' interests in real time. The co-occurrence network of original and reply tweets provided different words from various tweets that appeared with a certain frequency. However, the network derived from all tweets seemed to concentrate on words from specific tweets with negative overtones. As a result of sentiment analysis, 54.5% to 62.8% tweets were negative about genome-edited food and the labeling policy of the Consumer Affairs Agency, respectively, indicating a strong demand for mandatory labeling. These findings are expected to contribute to the communication strategy of genome-edited foods toward social implementation by government officers and science communicators.

Project description:After the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Japan on 15 January 2020, multiple nationwide COVID-19 clusters were identified by the end of February. The Japanese government focused on mitigating the emerging COVID-19 clusters by conducting active nationwide epidemiological surveillance. However, an increasing number of cases continued to appear until early April 2020, many with unclear infection routes and no recent history of travel outside Japan. We aimed to evaluate the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genome sequences from the COVID-19 cases that appeared until early April 2020 and to characterize their genealogical networks in order to demonstrate possible routes of spread in Japan. Nasopharyngeal specimens were collected from patients, and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2 were performed. Positive RNA samples were subjected to whole-genome sequencing, and a haplotype network analysis was performed. Some of the primary clusters identified during January and February 2020 in Japan descended directly from the Wuhan-Hu-1-related isolates from China and other distinct clusters. Clusters were almost contained until mid-March; the haplotype network analysis demonstrated that the COVID-19 cases from late March through early April may have created an additional large cluster related to the outbreak in Europe, leading to additional spread within Japan. In conclusion, genome surveillance has suggested that there were at least two distinct SARS-CoV-2 introductions into Japan from China and other countries.IMPORTANCE This study aimed to evaluate the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genome sequences from COVID-19 cases and to characterize their genealogical networks to demonstrate possible routes of spread in Japan. We found that there were at least two distinct SARS-CoV-2 introductions into Japan, initially from China and subsequently from other countries, including Europe. Our findings can help understand how SARS-CoV-2 entered Japan and contribute to increased knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 in Asia and its association with implemented stay-at-home/shelter-in-place/self-restraint/lockdown measures. This study suggested that it is necessary to formulate a more efficient containment strategy using real-time genome surveillance to support epidemiological field investigations in order to highlight potential infection linkages and mitigate the next wave of COVID-19 in Japan.

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Implications and Lessons From the Introduction of Genome-Edited Food Products in Japan.

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