RNA interference insecticides require special safety tests

A forum article published in the August issue of BioScience stated that standard toxicity tests are not sufficient to assess the safety of a new technology that has the potential to manufacture pesticides and genetically modified crops. The author of the article, Jonathan G. Lundgren and Jian J. Duan of the US Department of Agriculture ’s Agricultural Research Service, proposed that RNA interference-based pesticides and insect-resistant crops that are currently under development may need to be tested using complex procedures to Evaluate their effects on the animal's entire life cycle instead of looking for short-term toxicity.

RNA interference is a natural process that can affect the level of gene activity in animals and plants. However, agricultural scientists have successfully designed artificial "interfering RNA" targeting insect pest genes, which can slow the growth of these pests or kill them. The hope is that the interfering RNA may be applied to crops, or genetically modifying crops so that the interfering RNAs are harmful to their pests, thus increasing crop yields.

People's safety concerns are that, like other types of genetic modification and general pesticides, artificial interference with RNAs can also harm beneficial insects or other animals. And the way that interferes with the operation of RNA means that merely testing lethality may not detect important destructive effects. For example, an interfering RNA may have the effect of inadvertently suppressing the activity of a gene required for the propagation of a beneficial species. Standard laboratory tests cannot detect harm, but due to these effects on reproduction, ecological damage may occur in farmland.

Lundgren and Duan suggested that scientists who study the potential of interfering RNA pesticides should make pesticides designed to be less likely to affect non-target species. They also proposed a research project to assess how these chemicals enter the real world. If such measures are taken, Lundgren and Duan are optimistic that RNA interference technology's "flexibility, applicability, and proven effectiveness" means that it "has an important position in future pest management."


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