Perspectives on the management of synthetic biological and gene edited foods

Abstract

Synthetic biology, gene editing and transgene technologies that involving gene manipulation are widely used in food research and development. In recent decades, China has formulated many policies and regulations to govern the safety of genetically modified agricultural organisms. Based on the comparative analysis of technical connotations on synthetic biology, gene editing and transgenes and related risksregarding the safety of food, environment and the management of genetically modified agricultural organisms, this paper puts forward the following suggestions on 1) management of synthetic biological and gene-edited foods (in this paper, “food” refers to “edible agricultural products and food”), 2) promoting the gradual process of industrialization on gene-edited and synthetic biological foods through lessons learned from the practice on genetically modified crops, 3) speeding up the industrialization of gene-edited foods and prudently promoting the application of synthetic biological foods, 4) urgently establishing and updating policies and regulations related to gene-edited and synthetic biological foods, 5) unifying the legislation and supervision of synthetic biological, gene-edited and genetically modified foods 6) establishing ethical principles and bottom lines for genetically manipulated foods.

Keywords

• Synthetic biology
• Gene editing
• Transgene
• Edible agricultural product
• Food
• Food safety