Gene Drive-Modified Organisms: Developing Practical Risk Assessment Guidance

Yann Devos; Michael B Bonsall; Leslie G Firbank; John Mumford; Fabien Nogué; Ernst A Wimmer

doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2020.11.015

Gene Drive-Modified Organisms: Developing Practical Risk Assessment Guidance

Trends Biotechnol. 2021 Sep;39(9):853-856. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2020.11.015. Epub 2020 Dec 17.

Authors

Yann Devos¹, Michael B Bonsall², Leslie G Firbank³, John Mumford⁴, Fabien Nogué⁵, Ernst A Wimmer⁶

Affiliations

¹ GMO Unit, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Parma, Italy. Electronic address: yann.devos@efsa.europa.eu.
² Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
³ School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
⁴ Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK.
⁵ Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, Versailles, France.
⁶ Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB, Georg August University, Göttingen, Germany.

PMID: 33342557
DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2020.11.015

Abstract

Risk assessors, risk managers, developers, potential applicants, and other stakeholders at many levels discuss the need for new or further risk assessment guidance for deliberate environmental releases of gene drive-modified organisms. However, preparing useful and practical guidance entails challenges, to which we offer recommendations based on our experience drafting guidance.

Keywords: engineered gene drives; modelling; monitoring; precautionary principle; problem formulation; synthetic biology.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Environment
Gene Drive Technology*
Guidelines as Topic*
Organisms, Genetically Modified*
Risk Assessment*