Hello. My name is Les Firbank
and I am an expert at EFSA specialising in sustainable agriculture.
Today, I am going to talk to you about gene drives.
All living creatures contain genes.
Usually, when two individuals mate, each parent passes
one of the two copies of each gene onto their offspring.
So each copy has a 50% chance of passing on to the next generation.
Gene drives, on the other hand, increase the probability of inheritance of a gene up to 100%.
As a result, a gene drive can spread through population much faster than a normal gene.
Gene drives can be found naturally.
But recent developments in molecular biology are allowing scientists to engineer gene drives
and use them to push desirable genes into target populations.
This has opened the door for using gene drives to:
wipe out disease carriers, such as mosquitoes that transmit malaria,
control agricultural pests like fruit flies,
eradicate invasive species like rodents from islands,
and rescue endangered species threatened by pathogens.
Research in the field of gene drives is advancing rapidly.
And different gene drives have already been developed that rely on different strategies.
Their two main aims are either to suppress or replace pest populations.
In insects, suppression drives aim to reduce the size of a pest population.
A way to achieve this is through “inactivation” of important genes involved in survival or reproduction.
Replacement drives, on the other hand, aim to change the genetic makeup of an organism
so it can no longer transmit a disease, or it is more resistant to a pathogen.
While gene drives hold much promise, their development and deliberate release
into the environment raise concerns about the potential for uncontrolled
and self-sustained spread of some gene drives,
undesired side effects
and the possibility of altering ecosystems irreversibly.
So it's essential that gene drive research and releases are done safely,
responsibly, and involve societal engagement.
Scientific advisory bodies like EFSA, assess potential adverse effects on humans,
animals and the environment, from deploying gene drive modified organisms.
Decision-makers, such as the European Commission and Member States, use that advice to weigh up
the potential risks and benefits of such organisms
and also take account of social and economic factors
in deciding whether they should be used and how.