In the debate over whether scientists should use “gene drive” technology to suppress or eliminate animal-borne diseases just because they can, technology is the equivalent of teaching us how to swim, Mr. Esvelt said. He said that same moral obligation is there, whether it’s jumping in a lake to save a drowning boy or using genetic engineering to prevent a boy across the world from contracting malaria.
Mr. Esvelt and his group at MIT invented the gene drive technology that he said could genetically reprogram certain species at a controllable, localized level. His group is working with communities on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard to eventually release genetically-altered white-footed mice, the prime carriers of Lyme disease, onto the islands. He said the mice, immunized against Lyme disease, would reproduce and pass that immunization on generationally, hopefully suppressing the spread of the disease in the process.
