This is very bad news.

Of the natural sciences, physics, chemistry, and biology, only the last of these--, biology--now has the power to destroy the very subject matter it is supposed to be studying. The subject matter of the science we call biology is life on this planet, the only life we know of with certainty. 

It has taken some 3.8 billion years for life to evolve, and now, with genetic engineering, biologists have the ability to destroy the incredibly complex and delicate genetic basis of life. 

In the natural, living world, we face a time when there may not be anything of Nature remaining. Every living thing could be engineered by humans. Just yesterday it was announced that the first genetically engineered human baby had been born. Let's hope this unfortunate child is the only one--never again!

All this should be of concern to environmentalists, especially to those of us who follow in the footsteps of John Muir.

Tom Mathews

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Laurel Hopwood <[log in to unmask]>
To: CONS-SPST-BIOTECH-FORUM <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Fri, Sep 23, 2016 7:52 am
Subject: Monsanto licenses CRISPR technology to modify crops — with key restrictions

https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/22/monsanto-licenses-crispr/
Monsanto licenses CRISPR technology to modify crops — with key restrictions
(edited)

Monsanto has licensed CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology from the 
Broad Institute for use in seed development, the company announced on 
Thursday.
But the deal comes with restrictions that speak to the startling power 
of CRISPR, as well as widespread public anxiety about genetically 
modified crops: Monsanto cannot use it for gene drive, the controversial 
technique that can spread a trait through an entire population, with 
unknown consequences.

Since 2013 the Broad has issued more than a dozen licenses for 
commercial research using CRISPR-Cas9, including to Editas Medicine, GE 
Healthcare, and Evotec. This is the first for agricultural use. 
Genome-editing of crops offers the potential of increasing yields, 
reducing the use of chemical pesticides (a plant can be genetically 
modified to thwart insects), and making strains tolerant of the droughts 
that are becoming more frequent with global climate change.

Leading the list of those concerns is gene drive, in which CRISPR-based 
genome editing alters normal inheritance in such a way that traits are 
always passed on to offspring. That could spread a new gene throughout 
an entire population in only a few generations. If the trait is, say, 
the ability to kill insects, then making that gene ubiquitous in a crop 
could pose unknown threats to ecosystems, a recent National Research 
Council report warned.

The Broad also stipulated that Monsanto not use CRISPR-Cas9 to create 
sterile (“terminator”) seeds. In this approach, genetically altered 
crops do not produce fertile seeds, so farmers must buy them every year, 
a financial burden to them but a boon for the seed companies. No such 
crops have been commercially deployed, and the United Nations Convention 
on Biological Diversity recommended they not be developed.

Monsanto believes CRISPR will be much more powerful than the decades-old 
technique behind GMOs. That technology inserts foreign genes at random 
sites in a plant’s genome. The vast majority of those insertions don’t 
work as intended, said Tom Adams, who leads Monsanto’s biotechnology 
efforts, so changing a crop’s traits takes years.

CRISPR is tantalizing to seed companies for another reason. The US 
Department of Agriculture has said that because the technique does not 
insert a foreign gene into plants, but either deletes or modifies an 
existing one, CRISPR’d crops (such as a mushroom that doesn’t turn brown 
when cut, or drought-tolerant corn being developed by DuPont Pioneer) do 
not need regulatory approval as GMOs do.

DuPont is collaborating with Caribou Biosciences to CRISPR corn and 
wheat for drought tolerance and other traits. A spokeswoman said the 
company is “unable to disclose” whether the DuPont agreement permits the 
use of CRISPR to develop gene drive in crops.

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