TWN Info Service on Biosafety
5 February 2025
Third World Network
www.twn.my
Dear Friends and Colleagues
GM microorganisms: a new global environmental disaster in the making?
Concerted efforts are underway to data mine the world’s microbial biodiversity for traits that may be applied to an ever-growing number of spheres, including for agriculture, conservation (e.g. bioremediation), climate change (e.g. carbon capture) and human health (e.g. viral vaccines on wildlife to reduce biological threats of pathogenic spillovers to people, and GM microbiome therapies).
A new report from GeneWatch UK lays out the increasing interest in genetically engineering microbes. However, a central risk to GM microbial applications is their high capacity for uncontrolled spread, transfer of genetic material, and rapid evolutionary changes.
As such the report warns that “Allowing open releases of GM micro-organisms into the environment risks permanently (and negatively) altering complex ecosystems. Deliberate open releases could lead to ‘living pollution’ of all ecosystems: rivers, oceans, farmland, forests, grasslands, gardens, parks and nature reserves. It is impossible to predict the consequences of such releases as GM microorganisms interact and evolve with their environment, spreading new genetic constructs into other organisms. These GM microorganisms will be spread through a variety of mechanisms, such as sewage, insects, and genetic rain, and interact with the communities of microbes in human and animal guts and on skin.”
The report concludes that there is an urgent need to apply a precautionary approach to environmental releases of GM microbes, due to the threat of serious or irreversible harm and lack of scientific certainty about potential impacts. Application of the precautionary approach means that “GM microorganisms (including gene edited microorganisms) should not be deliberately released into the environment, due to the inability to predict and/or manage future adverse effects on human and animal health and the environment”.
With best wishes,
Third World Network
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GM/GE Microorganisms: a new global environmental disaster in the making?
GeneWatch UK
https://www.genewatch.org/uploads/f03c6d66a9b354535738483c1c3d49e4/gm-microorganisms-fin.pdf
November 2024
Executive summary
This report describes the use of genetic engineering techniques (including genome editing techniques) to create genetically modified (GM) microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses and microscopic algae and fungi. Microorganisms are ubiquitous in the environment, and many evolve in close proximity to humans, animals and plants: for example, in the gut and skin microbiomes of humans, pets, livestock and wild animals; and in plant roots and soil.
Contrary to established norms, the deliberate release of living genetically modified microorganisms, which can survive and reproduce in the environment, has recently begun, driven by commercial interests and new technological developments. Existing products are limited and do not appear to deliver on their claims, and future products, likewise, are at an early stage of development and will face many technical and other challenges. Despite much hype, there is every reason to be very sceptical of claimed future benefits. Nevertheless, GM bacteria, viruses, microalgae and fungi are already being genetically engineered for open release, with proposed applications in a wide variety of environments (e.g., in soil, freshwater and marine environments).
Large-scale releases of GM micro-organisms into the environment could take place, even if future products do not deliver on the claimed benefits. Most of the examples discussed in this report involve living GM organisms (GMOs), which can reproduce and spread in the environment, surviving for multiple generations (perhaps indefinitely). This risks creating a form of ‘living pollution’ that cannot be contained, controlled, or recalled if anything goes wrong. In some cases (such as the idea of ‘self-spreading vaccines’), widespread dispersal is intentional.
Although only a tiny fraction of the multiple species of microbes that exist have been genetically modified with the intention of open release, they already represent species that inhabit a wide range of habitats. These include several species of marine microalgae; bacteria that inhabit soils and freshwater habitats; fungi and bacteria that infect plants and animals, including many species of insects; and viruses that infect humans and animals. These GM microorganisms can be spread through a variety of mechanisms, such as sewage, insects, dust storms and rain, and interact with the communities of microbes in human and animal guts and on skin. Uncontrolled spread of GM microorganisms could therefore pollute all ecosystems: rivers, lakes, oceans, farmland, forests, grasslands, gardens, parks and nature reserves. Allowing open releases of GM microorganisms into the environment risks permanently (and negatively) altering these complex ecosystems.
It is impossible to predict the consequences of such releases as GM microorganisms interact and evolve with their environment, spreading new genetic constructs into other organisms. Within the human gut, for example, the introduction of new genetic variants can alter metabolism, the breakdown of drugs, and resistance against pathogens. Novel genetic constructs are easily transferred from one microbe to another and can spread unwanted traits, such as antibiotic resistance. A particular concern is the potential creation of novel pathogens as microbes evolve.
The need for a precautionary approach is enshrined in global environmental treaties such as the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the UN Biological Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), and the Rio Declaration. This means that where there is a threat of serious or irreversible damage, lack of scientific certainty about the impacts shall not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation. This leads to the conclusion that GM microorganisms (including gene edited microorganisms) should not be deliberately released into the environment, due to the inability to predict and/or manage future adverse effects on human and animal health and the environment.
In addition, ‘contained use’ applications of GM microorganisms (including gene edited microorganisms) should be properly contained and this requires more scrutiny as more potential applications are developed on a larger scale.