permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

[anything to dominate, destroy and exploit Nature through dominionism,
anything for profit; this is very questionable future technology]

Scientists alarmed over GM organisms that could cause environmental
disasters (independent.co.uk)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-sound-alarm-over-supercharged-gm-organisms-which-could-spread-in-the-wild-and-cause-environmental-disasters-10434010.html
'Gene drive': Scientists sound alarm over supercharged GM organisms which
could spread in the wild and cause environmental disasters

A powerful new technique for generating “supercharged” genetically modified
organisms that can spread rapidly in the wild has caused alarm among
scientists who fear that it may be misused, accidentally or deliberately,
and cause a health emergency or environmental disaster.

The development of so-called “gene drive” technology promises to
revolutionise medicine and agriculture because it can in theory stop the
spread of mosquito-borne illnesses, such as malaria and yellow fever, as
well as eliminate crop pests and invasive species such as rats and cane
toads.

However, scientists at the forefront of the development believe that in the
wrong hands gene-drive technology poses a serious threat to the environment
and human health if accidentally or deliberately released from a laboratory
without adequate safeguards. Some believe it could even be used as a
terrorist bio-weapon directed against people or livestock because gene
drives – which enable GM genes to spread rapidly like a viral infection
within a population – will eventually be easy and cheap to generate.

"Just as gene drives can make mosquitoes unfit for hosting and spreading
the malaria parasite, they could conceivably be designed with gene drives
carrying cargo for delivering lethal bacterial toxins to humans,” said
David Gurwitz, a geneticist at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

A group of senior geneticists have called for international safeguards to
apply to researchers who want to develop gene drives, with strict security
measures placed on laboratories to prevent the accidental escape of
“supercharged” GM organisms that are able to spread rapidly in the wild.

Last week the US National Academy of Sciences initiated a wide-ranging
review of gene-drive technology in “non-human organisms” and in this week’s
journal Science a group of 27 leading geneticists call on the scientific
community to be open and transparent about both the risks and benefits of
gene drives.