{"id":78931,"date":"2016-09-05T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2016-09-05T11:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=78931"},"modified":"2016-09-05T09:46:38","modified_gmt":"2016-09-05T08:46:38","slug":"genetic-extinction-technology-rejected-by-international-group-of-scientists-conservationists-and-environmental-advocates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/09\/genetic-extinction-technology-rejected-by-international-group-of-scientists-conservationists-and-environmental-advocates\/","title":{"rendered":"Genetic \u201cExtinction\u201d Technology Rejected by International Group of Scientists, Conservationists and Environmental Advocates"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Sep 2016<\/em> \u2014 <\/strong>As thousands of government representatives and conservationists convene in Honolulu, Hawaii this week for the 2016 World Conservation Congress<\/a>, international conservation and environmental leaders are raising awareness about the potentially dangerous use of gene drives \u2014 a controversial new synthetic biology technology intended to deliberately cause targeted species to become extinct.<\/p>\n

Members of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), including NGOs, government representatives, and scientific and academic institutions, overwhelmingly voted to adopt a de facto moratorium<\/a> on supporting or endorsing research into gene drives for conservation or other purposes until the IUCN has fully assessed their impacts. News of the August 26 digital vote comes as an important open letter<\/a> to the group is being delivered.<\/p>\n

Scientists and environmental experts and organizations from around the globe have advocated for a halt to proposals for the use of gene drive technologies in conservation. Announced today, a long list of environmental leaders, including Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE<\/strong>, genetics professor and broadcaster Dr. David Suzuki<\/strong>, Dr. Fritjof Capra<\/strong>, entomologist Dr. Angelika Hilbeck<\/strong>, Indian environmental activist Dr. Vandana Shiva <\/strong>and organic pioneer and biologist Nell Newman<\/strong>, have lent their support to the open letter<\/a>: \u201cA Call for Conservation with a Conscience: No Place for Gene Drives in Conservation.<\/strong>\u201d The letter states, in part: \u201cGene drives, which have not been tested for unintended consequences, nor fully evaluated for ethical and social impacts, should not be promoted as conservation tools.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGene drives are basically a technology that aims for a targeted species to go extinct,\u201d explains ecologist and entomologist Dr. Angelika Hilbeck, president of <\/strong>the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility<\/a> (ENSSER)<\/strong>. \u201cWhile this may appear to some conservationist professionals to be a \u2018good\u2019 thing and a \u2018silver bullet\u2019 to handle complicated problems, there are high risks of unintended consequences that could be worse than the problems they are trying to fix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both the leading developers of the technology and also those concerned about gene drives will be attending this week\u2019s Congress and holding events to raise awareness, hype promises or highlight the potential hazards of gene drives. One near-term gene drive proposal, promoted by U.S.-based non-governmental organization Island Conservation, intends to release gene drive mice<\/a> on islands to eradicate them. Another led by the University of Hawai\u2019i would develop gene drive mosquitoes<\/a> for use in Hawaii to combat avian malaria which affects honeycreeper birds. The debate around gene drives is likely to resurface later this year at the negotiations of the United Nations Biodiversity Convention in Cancun Mexico in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cGene drives, also known as \u2018mutagenic chain reactions,\u2019 aim to alter DNA so an organism always passes down a desired trait, hoping to change over time the genetic makeup of an entire species,\u201d explains Dr. Vandana Shiva of Navdanya<\/strong>. \u201cThis technology would give biotech developers an unprecedented ability to directly intervene in evolution, to dramatically modify ecosystems, or even crash a targeted species to extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGenetic extinction technologies are a false and dangerous solution to the problem of biodiversity loss,\u201d said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth<\/strong>. \u201cThere are real, sustainable, community-based conservation efforts that should be supported. We are concerned that genetic extinction technologies will allow new destructive agricultural practices and even use by the military. Speculative conservation claims are at best an unfounded diversion or smokescreen. We support those in the IUCN who recognize the gravity of irreversible and irresponsible technologies such as gene drives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signatories of the letter, which include indigenous organizations and legal experts, raised legal and moral questions, citing an \u201cethical threshold that<\/strong> must not be crossed without great restraint<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom military testing to GMO crops, and now gene drives, Hawai\u2019i should not be treated as a test zone for risky and experimental technologies,\u201d said Walter Ritte, Native Hawaiian activist and hunter<\/strong>. \u201cWhat happens in Hawai\u2019i must be discussed with residents, not decided from a lab on the other side of the continent. Hawaiians should decide what is best for Hawai\u2019i.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the signing organizations will be holding a Knowledge Caf\u00e9 event as part of the IUCN World Conservation Congress at 8:30 am (HST) on Monday, September 5. The event will be live streamed at www.synbiowatch.org\/gene-drives.<\/p>\n

In response to upcoming proposals to release gene drive organisms in Hawaii, the local organization Hawai\u2019i SEED will be hosting an educational session on gene drives in the evening on Tuesday, September 6. See http:\/\/bit.ly\/2bwZEuG<\/a> for details.<\/p>\n

Note to editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A short briefing outlining concerns about gene drives prepared by the Civil Society Working Group on Gene Drives is available at http:\/\/synbiowatch.org\/2016\/08\/reckless-driving\/<\/a>. A copy of the letter \u201cA Call for Conservation with a Conscience: No Place for Gene Drives in Conservation\u201d and a complete list of signatories is available at http:\/\/www.synbiowatch.org\/gene-drives-letter\/<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  2. The organizers of the letter are inviting other organizations to join as signatories. Additional organizational signatures can be sent to: genedrives@synbiowatch.org<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  3. More details about the Island Conservation Project to release gene drive mice are available in this article: http:\/\/baynature.org\/article\/re-coding-conservation\/<\/a>. Plans to develop gene drives for Hawaii are being developed by the lab of Dr. Floyd A, Reed of Hawaii University: http:\/\/hawaiireedlab.com\/wpress\/?p=2270<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  4. The IUCN Motion on Synthetic Biology and Conservation<\/a> (motion No. 95) was supported by 71 Governments and 355 NGOs (out of a total of 544 votes cast). It includes the following amendment on gene drives: \u201cCALLS UPON the Director General and Commissions with urgency to assess the implications of gene drives and related techniques and their potential impacts on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity as well as equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources, in order to develop IUCN guidance on this topic, while refraining from supporting or endorsing research, including field trials, into the use of gene drives for conservation or other purposes until this assessment has been undertaken.\u201d A breakdown of the vote was today made available to IUCN members.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    ###<\/p>\n

    Expert contacts: <\/strong>Dana Perls, (925) 705-1074, dperls@foe.org<\/a>; Jim Thomas, (514) 516-5759, jim@etcgroup.org<\/a><\/p>\n

    Communications contacts:<\/strong> Kate Colwell, (202) 222-0744, kcolwell@foe.org<\/a>; Trudi Zundel, (266) 979-0993, trudi@etcgroup.org<\/a><\/p>\n

    Go to Original \u2013 synbiowatch.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1 Sep 2016 \u2014 The 2016 World Conservation Congress convenes in Honolulu, Hawaii this week raising awareness about the use of gene drives \u2014 a new synthetic biology technology to cause species to become extinct. Environmental leaders including Jane Goodall, David Suzuki, Fritjof Capra, Angelika Hilbeck, Vandana Shiva, Nell Newman have signed the open letter: \u201cA Call for Conservation with a Conscience: No Place for Gene Drives in Conservation.\u201d Please do it too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-organic-gmo-genetic-engineering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78931\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}