Autonomy of Nations and Indigenous Peoples and the Environmental Release of Genetically Engineered Animals with Gene Drives
| Date | 01 November 2019 |
| Author | Zahra Meghani |
| Published date | 01 November 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12699 |
Autonomy of Nations and Indigenous Peoples
and the Environmental Release of Genetically
Engineered Animals with Gene Drives
Zahra Meghani
University of Rhode, Kingston, USA
Abstract
This article contends that the environmental release of genetically engineered (GE) animals with heritable traits that are
patented will present a challenge to the efforts of nations and indigenous peoples to engage in self-determination. The envi-
ronmental release of such animals has been proposed on the grounds that they could function as public health tools or as
solutions to the problem of agricultural insect pests. This article brings into focus two political-economic-legal problems that
would arise with the environmental release of such organisms. To address those challenges, it is proposed that nations consid-
ering the environmental release of GE animals must take into account the underlying circumstances and policy failures that
motivate arguments for the use of the modified animals. Moreover, countries must recognize that the UN International Cove-
nant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights place on them
an obligation to ensure that GE animals with patented heritable traits are not released without the substantive consent of
the nations or indigenous peoples that could be affected.
Policy Implications
•Nations considering the environmental release of genetically engineered (GE) animals with patented heritable traits must
take into account the underlying circumstances and policy failures that motivate arguments for the use of the modified
organisms.
•Countries must recognize that as parties to the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), they have
an obligation to not permit the environmental release of GE animals with patented heritable traits without the substantive
consent of the nations or indigenous peoples that could be affected.
•Countries must acknowledge that the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) places a
duty on them to ensure that GE animals with heritable traits that are patented are only released in the wild with the free,
informed consent of the nations or indigenous peoples that could be affected.
•Countries must ensure that the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), corporate entities and other organizations over
whom they have authority respect the right of indigenous peoples and other nations to make informed, free decisions
about the presence of GE animals with patented heritable traits in their territories.
Environmental release of genetically engineered
animals with gene drives: international treaties
and patents
The ability of nations
1
and indigenous peoples to act auton-
omously is invariably constrained by various state and non-
state actors. This article argues that the environmental
release of genetically engineered (GE) animals with patented
heritable traits will present an additional challenge to the
efforts of nations and indigenous peoples to engage in self-
determination.
Proponents of GE animals (specifically, GE insects) with
patented heritable traits have proposed releasing them in
the environment arguing that they could serve as public
health measures or as solutions to the problem of agricul-
tural insect ‘pests’
2
(see, for instance, Godfray et al., 2017).
Germline cells or early embryos would be altered by means
of genetic modification,
3
with the change affecting the pro-
geny of the engineered organism at a percentage higher
than the one described by Mendel’s law of inheritance; such
a modification is referred to as a ‘gene drive’(see Burt,
2003; Champer et al., 2016; Harvey-Samuel et al., 2017;
Hammond and Galizi, 2017).
The possible threat to biodiversity from the open release
of such modified animals has received attention (Courtier-
Orgogozo et al., 2017). This article brings into focus two
complex political-economic-legal problems that would arise
with the environmental release of GE animals (including GE
insects) with heritable traits that are patented. First, if those
modified organisms encroach on the territories of peoples
and countries that have not consented to their presence on
their lands or waterways, their political right of self-determi-
nation will have been violated by the parties responsible for
©2019 University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Global Policy (2019) 10:4 doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12699
Global Policy Volume 10 . Issue 4 . November 2019
554
Research Article
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