Children's Health Defense Panelists at the World Economic Forum hailed genetically engineered microbes as the future of sustainable and climate-friendly agriculture, but watchdog groups warned that the genetic modifications released inside the microbes could move across species and geographic boundaries with unforeseen and potentially irreparable consequences.
The topic of “synthetic biology” — the science of reengineering living organisms to have “new abilities” geared toward solving problems in fields ranging from medicine to manufacturing to agriculture — came during several sessions held last week at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meetings in Davos, Switzerland.
Synthetic biology is the basis of the so-called “bioeconomy” valued at a trillion dollars in the U.S. and set to grow globally to over $30 trillion in the next two decades, according to Forbes. Initiatives like the Biden administration’s 2022 executive order mandating federal investment in biotech are expected to drive that growth.
Bioproducts include everything from mRNA vaccines to lab-grown meats, to bioelectronic medical devices. But much of the excitement during two of last week’s WEF panels on synthetic biology in food and agriculture — “Biology as Consumer Technology” and the “Bio-based Path to Net Zero” — centered on “biologicals,” which are genetically engineered (GE) nitrogen-fixing soil microbes.
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