Campaign seeks to restrict genetically engineered microbes and viruses
The Protect Nature Now campaign is urging government officials, businesses, and scientists to implement laws and policies that protect health and environment from genetically engineered microbes and viruses. The coalition seeks to safeguard the microbiome – the health-critical ecosystems of microorganisms and viruses found inside people’s bodies and throughout the planet.
Protect Nature Now points out that gene editing introduces a perfect storm. It is a new, cheap and easy method of genetic engineering that is virtually unregulated and can cause widespread, irreversible damage to the microbiome.
"Genetic-engineered microbes can encircle the globe and disrupt microbiomes in the environment and inside our bodies," said Jeffrey Smith, executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology which is spearheading the campaign. "Plausible scenarios include new pandemics and ecosystem collapse."
Once released, GE microbes are unrecallable. They may reproduce and permanently alter the gene pool in unpredictable ways. "A probiotic intended to help the soil on farms," said Smith, "could travel and swap genetic elements with microbes in forests, in oceans, even in humans."
Virtually anyone can create new GE microbes with inexpensive do-it-yourself kits. Low-cost home labs multiply the possibilities, while robots in biotech facilities can produce vast numbers. It is conceivable that hundreds of thousands or millions of new organisms will be released in this generation. This, according to the campaign, is a recipe for disaster.
Given that science has not yet fathomed the complexity and intelligence of the microbiome, combined with the fact that genetic engineering consistently leads to unpredictable side effects, the campaign seeks to prevent the outdoor release of any GE microbes. It also wants to end the genetically engineered enhancement of potentially pandemic pathogens, even inside secure labs. More than 1,000 lab accidents, including the escape of deadly pathogens, demonstrates that even state-of-the-art containment measures are insufficient to guarantee protection from these dangerous infectious agents.
The coalition is releasing the short film, “Don't Let the Gene Out of the Bottle,” which can be viewed on the campaign website, ProtectNatureNow.com.
Protect Nature Now's mission is to raise public awareness, generate political urgency around regulations, and build global opposition to the release of genetically modified microbes.
