Gene Drive technology could be used to eradicate malaria permanently ― DG NBMA

The Director-General of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba has said that the Gene Drive technology which is part of the technologies the Agency regulates, could be used to eliminate all malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Ebegba disclosed this while speaking with TribuneOnline in his office in Abuja on the newly amended NBMA Act which was signed recently by the President.

According to him “modern biotechnology is a very dynamic technology, and being a dynamic technology, there is an emerging aspect of it which includes synthetic biology, gene drive and genome editing. In view of the fact, particularly the gene drive is basically either to perpetuate a particular population or to reduce a particular population to achieve a particular purpose.

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“The issue of gene drive, we are looking towards a situation in the near future when we will be having genetically modified mosquitoes with a view of controlling malaria and some other things that are leading to diseases. So you know the impact of mosquito in our environment, carrying a plasmodium that leads to malaria and some other diseases, so the technology is looking at the possibility of coming up with genetically modified mosquitoes”.

Meanwhile, some Nigerians have raised concern over Gene Drive technology. They said any technology that can make mosquitoes not to reproduce could also affect humans when the same mosquito bites them.

Reacting to these concerns, Ebegba said “scientifically, genetically modified organisms do not experience horizontal gene transfer, once it is genetically infused, it is now in the genome, you cannot transfer it to a species that is not related.

“For instance, if a plant has been genetically modified, eating that plant does not mean you would have the gene plant gene in your body, it is like you eating yam and then seeing yam in your body, it’s not possible.

He said the essence of this new Act was a proactive measure to ensure that Nigeria is adequately prepared for the emerging aspect of the technology.

For genome editing, Dr Ebegba said the Agency would regulate the deployment of the technology partially, noting that there are some aspects of the technology that does not need regulations, especially the aspect that falls within the conventional breeding method.

“There are various aspects of genome editing, there are some you don’t need to move a gene from another organism into another one, you just have to twist the gene either to particularly solve the problem of a particular disease or to manifest a particular gene that has not been manifested.

“There is also the argument that genome editing may not require biosafety regulations, it is not all aspect of genome editing that requires biosafety compliance, so there are some that fall within the conventional method of breeding, also there are some that fall within natural breeding due to gene mutation and others. Gene mutation is also part of genome editing. So we are going to do selective regulation in the area of genome editing”, he explained.