Last chance to have your say. Submissions close on Monday 17th February.
A year ago Jennifer Doudna, Nobel Laureate co-inventor of CRISPR gene editing technology announced a ground breaking project to edit human and animal microbiomes in the gut, promising to cure diseases like asthma and Alzheimer’s and also ameliorate climate change (???) by altering the metabolic processes of animals and humans. Now today the NZ government is proposing to deregulate such biotechnology experimentation including gene editing of microorganisms.
The government is naively and deceptively telling us not to worry because biotech researchers are increasingly and falsely identifying their work as ‘natural’. The NZ Gene Technology Bill will remove any requirement for identification, labelling or regulation of most CRISPR products. The misguided and false assumption of the Gene Technology Bill is that novel CRISPR gene editing is creating an engineered biosynthetic pathway of microbial hosts capable of achieving so-called green synthesis of complex natural substances.
In other words, corporate giants will be able to replace foods, additives, flavours, processing aids, supplements and over the counter medical interventions commonly sold to the public with cheap biosynthetic alternatives. Under the terms of the Bill, this replacement of traditionally derived natural substances and foods will effectively be unannounced. Manufacturers and distributors will be able to deceptively label their synthetics as ‘natural’ in bold, displayed on the packaging without any need to inform the public of the substitution.
What does this mean for us? Is it safe? Is this proven technology?
Doudna struts her message on the TED Talks stage telling us that “the essence of being human is our ability to solve problems”. With overwhelming American bravado and self-belief she assures us that her work “will absolutely create solutions to the big problems of disease and climate change”. The sceptics among us might say that the essence of modern technology has been the ability to create unexpected problems. So who is right here?
Doudna announces that she now has the ability to not just use CRISPR to edit the genetics of individual organisms but “to edit and control entire populations of tiny microbes living inside humans known as microbiomes”. She goes on to explain that the CRISPR techniques she is working on can target and edit one type of bacterial genetic structure in an entire microbiome all at once without affecting all the others. In this process, CRISPR is designed to target a particular gene in one type of cell. Forgive me for thinking that this might be music to the ears of whatever dark powers are currently designing bioweapons.
Up until now, Doudna continues, it hasn’t been possible to know how the hundreds of thousands of unique bacterial genotypes living in the human body function, but the field of metagenomics has provided a tool to allow us to figure out what species are present and what they are doing. Together, metagenomics and CRISPR have created a new field of science called precision microbiome editing. Doudna then goes on to say she will be able to prove the new tools are safe and effective and create a transformative future free of problems like climate change and disease.
What’s not to like?
Firstly as we have been reporting (see here and here), CRISPR is not the ultimate precise technique that Doudna claims nor has it been successfully curing genetic diseases as she also claims, let alone changing the weather. The results are patchy, a very very small number of people have benefitted in the short term so far, at an astronomical cost, and diseases supposedly cured are routinely reoccurring at high rates. Moreover, the rate of serious adverse side effects is very high and can be life threatening. Chromosomal rearrangements found at the edit site following CRISPR gene editing are mutagenic and potentially harmful.
Another inherent feature of CRISPR editing is the routine creation of Double Strand Breaks (DSBs) in DNA which then need self-repairing. In fact, DSBs are very common in human cells due to natural environmental factors like ultraviolet radiation and they are self-repaired tens of thousands of times a day with virtually 100% accuracy. BUT a 2018 paper entitled Kinetics and Fidelity of the Repair of Cas9-Induced Double-Strand DNA Breaks found that “repair rates following CRISPR editing are variable and often slow. Furthermore, repair of the DSBs tends to be error prone” raising further questions about CRISPR gene editing safety and fidelity. In fact there is only a very superficial equivalence between genome editing and what occurs “naturally.” How breaks in DNA are reversed appears to be different and much less efficient and complete if caused by CRISPR gene editing
A paper published in December 2023 is entitled CRISPR-based gene editing technology and its application in microbial engineering. Written at the same time as Doudna’s talk, it does echo a certain amount of optimistic hope, but it certainly doesn’t share Doudna’s level of certainty and self-promotion. It strikes a number of notes of caution. It discusses attempts to develop CRISPR technologies which avoid harmful DSBs but notes their limitations.
It reports that microorganism and microbiome gene editing will be used to produce gene modified probiotic food additives, synthetic isoflavones and vitamins (formerly extracted from plants), soil additives and industrial microorganisms to aid the batch production of gene altered products in cell fermentation factories including synthetic foods, feeds, environmental biological products and medicines.
The article reports there are already several outstanding issues that remain unaddressed. For example, CRISPR Cas9 proteins can be cytotoxic to the host—adversely affecting cell functions. Recently, biotech pioneer Feng Zhang’s team reported a programmable protein delivery system that uses a virulent injection system derived from bacteria. This delivery system can overcome many natural cell protective barriers, such as host cell walls, cell membranes, and the cytosol. Gene editing techniques such as this are highly invasive with highly mobile and potentially long lasting effects.
For example, a team of researchers at Yale have found Covid spike proteins circulating in the blood of people over two years after mRNA vaccination, raising concerns that genetic sequences may have permanently integrated into their DNA. In other words, the effects of gene editing, once initiated, are hard to shut down. These include toxic off-target effects of the CRISPR-Cas system. This is a significant concern because techniques for efficient detection of off-target events are still unavailable. Technologies for precise and timely shutdown of the CRISPR-Cas system activity are also absent, leaving the host vulnerable to the negative impact of external elements.
Metagenomic research demonstrates that synthetic foods are highly contaminated with toxic genetic sequences known to pose a danger to public health
At the core of the Gene Technology Bill is a schizophrenic dysfunctional attitude to health. A miasma of confusion has been hung over the issues with talk of as yet non-existent far-fetched benefits and cures. On the one hand we constantly read articles pointing out that ultra-processed foods are at the heart of our public health crisis, causing cancers, heart disease, inflammation and auto-immune conditions. The articles urge us to go green, eat more fruit and vegetables, and cut down on the packaged supermarket foods. On the other hand, the government is proposing that gene edited synthetic foods, arguably the ultimate invasion of our traditional food preferences, should be allowed to be sold not just without identification or labelling but with the deceptive moniker NATURAL tacked on. How crazy is that? You tell me.
A study published in 2025 in the journal Food Chemistry: Molecular Sciences is entitled “Metagenomics-based tracing of genetically modified microorganism contaminations in commercial fermentation products. It reports on a well hidden and seldom mentioned, yet huge problem with foods produced through biosynthetic batch cell fermentation—namely genetic contamination, saying:
“Genetically modified microorganisms (GMM) are frequently employed for the production of microbial fermentation products such as food enzymes. Although presence of the GMM or its recombinant DNA in the final product is not authorized, contaminations occur frequently.”
It found GMM contamination in all 16 biosynthesised food enzymes it examined including the very concerning presence of antibiotic resistant genes, thus emphasising the public health risks of biosynthesis. The important point to make here is the genetic nature of the contamination. These are not minute traces of potentially toxic chemicals such as pesticides, they are active sequences of genetic instructions capable of interfering with the fundamental basis of our health. In other words, they are prime suspects in the search for the causes of the current tsunami of ill health. Incredibly, our government proposes to completely ignore these warning signs and go full monty on biotech deregulation
LAST CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR SAY
We are at a crossroads where decisions made will affect us all for generations. Find out more by viewing our YouTube video The Gene Technology Bill. What Kiwis Need To Know and then make a submission to the Health Select Committee by Monday February 17th. There are many reasons to reject the Gene Technology Bill. We have published suggestions for a submission template, but you can make your own submission of any length. Even just saying that full disclosure labelling of gene edited origins including food ingredients produced via genetically modified microorganisms needs to be mandated will make a significant point. The more submissions that are received, the more it can become clear to the government that we care about our natural foods.
Be warned ,MPs are telling their constituents that labelling will continue as before. This is not the case, the word ‘label’ appears zero times in the Bill, yet it replaces earlier legislation. The Bill will exempt most CRISPR products from any regulation or control. We should not accept politicians misleading us whether intentionally or not.
We do not live in a country where people are willing to let others take away their food choices, their rights, their beliefs and increase exposure to serious long term environmental and health risks. To protect this, we need to stand up and be heard. Keep using your voice at this critical time.
Guy Hatchard PhD was formerly a senior manager at Genetic ID a global food testing and safety company (now known as FoodChain ID). You can subscribe to his websites HatchardReport.com and GLOBE.GLOBAL for regular updates by email.
He is the author of ‘Your DNA Diet: Leveraging the Power of Consciousness To Heal Ourselves and Our World. An Ayurvedic Blueprint For Health and Wellness’.
