Driving towards ecotechnologies

The prospect of using genetic methods to target vector, parasite, and reservoir species offers tremendous potential benefits to public health, but the use of genome editing to alter the shared environment will require special attention to public perception and community governance in order to benefit the world. Public skepticism combined with the media scrutiny of gene drive systems could easily derail unpopular projects entirely, especially given the potential for trade barriers to be raised against countries that employ self-propagating gene drives. Hence, open and community-guided development of thoughtfully chosen applications is not only the most ethical approach, but also the most likely to overcome the economic, social, and diplomatic barriers. Here we review current and past attempts to alter ecosystems using biological methods, identify key determinants of social acceptance, and chart a stepwise path for developers towards safe and widely supported use.