Capacities of Global Institutions for Gene Drive Governance

Gene drive technologies represent a promising approach to the reduction of the global health burden posed by insect-borne infectious diseases like malaria and dengue. The application of new technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9-mediated gene editing have the potential to increase the efficiency of gene drive mechanisms by enabling trait inheritance by all progeny of the gene drive organism. Although concerns remain about long-term stability and reversibility of changes to insect populations instituted by gene drives, and researchers have not established the field efficacy of gene drive technology in controlled trials and larger releases of gene drive organisms into wild populations, this emerging science is developing at a faster pace than the production of legal-ethical oversight on an international scale. Internationally coordinated governance is critical because gene drive organisms can travel beyond geopolitical borders and infringe upon the consent of governments and members of the public.

Rather than exceptionalize gene drive governance, Kelsey and colleagues propose to incorporate oversight of this new technology into existing governance frameworks. To that end, their recent paper identifies and analyzes possible regulatory pathways and governance strategies that harness the capacities of current institutions in the United States, Africa, India, Australia, Europe, and the World Health Organization (WHO). As gene drive products and the contexts in which they are employed are  likely to differ, these authors recommend a flexible and adaptive governance process that can ensure proper field testing and implementation of this technology for disease control. They conclude that the decision about the use of gene drive technologies must follow cooperation of and consensus by international communities and robust evidence that demonstrates a favorable risk to benefit ratio. 

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Kelsey A, Stillinger D,Pham TB, Murphy J, Firth S, Carballar-Lejarazu R. Global Governing Bodies: A Pathway for Gene Drive Governance for Vector Mosquito Control. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 103(3), 2020, pp. 976–985 doi:10.4269/ajtmh.19-0941. Copyright © 2020 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene