Ethics guidelines for the use of genetically modified mosquitoes

The present guidelines contribute to the West African Integrated Vector Management (WA-IVM) platform by reflecting on key ethics requirements for any research on genetically modified mosquitoes to be respectful of human values. The guidelines take into account the different scenarios for the research into or deployment of genetically modified mosquitoes for disease control. They recognise the key challenges and complexities arising from the need to concomitantly consider different ethics domains, including ethics of research on human subjects, public health ethics, and environmental ethics. The underlying principles of these different ethics domains are highlighted, and the need to balance the potential benefits of engineered gene drives (in terms of public health) with potential risks to human, animal and environmental health is stated. The document addresses the domain of ethics of gene drive technology as a tool for the control or the elimination of malaria. It describes critical values and ethical issues arising from gene drive research and proposes a framework to address these issues.