It has been shown to work in a tremendous variety of organisms from the simplest of soil microbes to complex organisms including insects, plants, fish, animals, and people. 1 It has suffused fields from basic biological research to human therapeutics, wildlife conservation, military/defense, and agriculture.
Since its discovery in bacteria by Barrangou in 2007 and development into a genome editing tool by Doudna and others in 2012, CRISPR-Cas9 has been heralded by the research community as “breakthrough” technology ( Science 2012, 2013, 2015). Increasingly many scientists, journalists, and business entrepreneurs are invoking the discourse of democratization. By gathering multiple, partial knowledges together, we move beyond narrow risk-benefit framings to better evaluate not just what CRISPR is and does, but what democracy means and whom it serves.Īnd it’s not just CRISPR pioneers. I conclude with a set of principles and practices for CRISPR governance based on the idea that democratization of biotechnology requires epistemic justice. Next, I argue that “created spaces,” in which power is held by typically delegitimized actors and ideas, offer an opening for working out democracy on the terrain of biotechnology. Third is governance, where I contrast US Department of Agriculture regulations and the CRISPRcon conference as “closed” and “invited” spaces, respectively, for democratic participation. First is democratizing discourses: On what grounds is CRISPR said to be democratic? Who is saying so? How do dissident communities respond to these narratives? Second is agricultural applications, with a focus on the Innovative Genomics Institute’s work in developing gene-edited food crops, including a case of saveable clonal hybrid rice. I use Science and Technology Studies and political ecology lenses to unpack democratization in three main parts. In this paper, I draw on semi-structured interviews with gene editors, policy analysts, and communications experts as well as with critical academic and civil society experts.
But the high-profile, explicit, and assertive discourse of democratization with gene editing - especially CRISPR-Cas9 - is something new.
Many trends in agricultural biotechnology have extended fluidly from the first era of genetic modification using recombinant DNA techniques to the era of gene editing.
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