The first attempt to use genetic engineering technologies on the farm involved altering common crops to be resistant to pests or weed-killers. This genetically modified (GM) crop approach ran into problems when many consumers didn’t buy GM foods and farmers found the promised benefits only materialised, if at all, in the short-term. Now biotechnologists are contemplating a new strategy – to engineer newly developed invasive forms of genetic modifications to control insects, weeds and create new monopolies. Their plan is to use what has been dubbed a gene drive or ‘genetic forcer’ (see Box 1). Experiments with Gene Drive Organisms (GDOs) are aimed at designing creatures that automatically spread their engineered genes across whole habitats and ecosystems. They could, it is claimed, make some of our key agricultural pests extinct, reduce the need for pesticides and speed up plant breeding programmes. According to some of their proponents, gene drives could even be compatible with non-GMO and organic farming.

Risk

The potential for the creation of invasive GDOs capable of spreading engineered genes in the wild takes one of the worst scenarios envisaged for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and turns it into a deliberate industrial strategy. While first-generation GMOs mostly spread engineered genes by accident, GDOs will be designed to do their own engineering among wild populations out in the real world. Their spread to those populations would be deliberate. Scientists behind gene drives have only just begun to ask what would happen if the genes aren’t quite as well behaved as their Mendelian models intended. What if genes for female sterility, for instance, which have been shown to eliminate mosquito populations in the lab, transferred to species that pollinate our crops or are a food source for birds, reptiles, even humans? What if genes that were beneficial became disabled, or if genetic disruption increased the prevalence or altered patterns of diseases?

Contents

In Brief.............................................................................. 2

1. Introduction...................................................................4

2. A technical fix déjà vu  ..................................................6

3. Behind rare bird  ...........................................................8

4. Gene drive visions warp future of farming ...................13

a) Weeds and Pests   ............................................13

i. Fruit flies — Drosophila suzukii  ............17

ii. Moths   .................................................18

iii. Aphids   ...............................................19

iv. Plant hopper   .......................................19

v. Red flour beetle   ...................................19

vi. Whitefly   ..............................................20

vii. Rodents   .............................................20

viii. Nematodes   .......................................21

ix. Candida albicans   ................................21

b) Engineering pests to avoid crops  .....................21

c) Herbicide resistance   ........................................22

d) Enabling new (and old) agricultural chemicals.....22

e) Speeding up breeding/spreading GMO traits.......22

f) Controlling and directing ‘ecological services’......23

g) Removing genetic pollution.................................24

5. Technology out of control?  ...........................................25

    Biosafety threats and ecological risks ............................25

    Implications for agroecological, organic and
    peasant agriculture and the need for free prior and
    informed consent   ........................................................28

6. Acting ethically  ............................................................30

Eight Recommendations  ...................................................30

1. Stop ‘driving’ – call for a moratorium on gene
drive release .................................................................30

2. Agree safe containment rules   ..................................31

3. Put in place monitoring and assessment and
 demonstrate reversal methods .....................................31

4. Ensure free, prior and informed consent of all
 affected communities....................................................31

5. Prohibit military ‘dual use’ and protect
the right to food............................................................31

6. Learn from history – enable society to reflect
 on the past ..................................................................32

7. Practice Precautionary Science   .................................32

8. Examine the implications for World Food
 Security and the Right to Food and Nutrition..................32

References  .........................................................................33