FAST-SPREADING GENETIC MUTATIONS POSE ECOLOGICAL RISK (Source nature.com)

Gene drives could be used to combat mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria. A technique that allows particular genes to spread rapidly through populations is not ready to be set loose in the wild, warns a committee convened by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In a report released on 8 June, the committee argued that such ‘gene drives’ pose complex ecological risks that are not yet fully understood. “It is not ready — and we are not ready — for any kind of release,” says Elizabeth Heitman, co-chair of the committee and a research integrity educator at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. “There is a lot of work that needs to be done.” A gene drive could have unintended effects on the environment if it is unleashed in wild populations: removing one species of insect, for example, could endanger the animals that feed on it. Given this risk, the report also stressed the importance of layering multiple  HYPERLINK “http://www.nature.com/news/safety-upgrade-found-for-gene-editing-technique-1.18799” methods of containment to prevent accidental release of engineered species, and of consulting with the public even before gene drive experiments are undertaken in the laboratory. It’s a message that evolutionary engineer Kevin Esvelt worries may not come through strongly enough to individual researchers.