Search

International audience; The French legal framework on genome editing of human iPS cells is complicated as it relies on multiple applicable laws (European Union law, Council of Europe treaties, and French laws) which are under continual development. It is not specific insofar as neither genome editing nor iPS cells are regulated as such in French law. However, several relevant rules can be identified regarding the access to human biological material (cells, tissues and genes and more specifically somatic cells, germ cells, embryonic cells and embryos) as well as the modalities of their use (prohibition, authorisation under specific conditions, legal gap) for specific purposes (e.g., therapy or research). These regulatory aspects are laid down primarily in EU legislation on tissues and cells and on advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), as well as in French legislation implementing EU law and in the French law on bioethics. Combined gene/cell therapy using genome edited human iPS cells to be differentiated into somatic cells for autologous retransplantation is likely to be considered an application of gene therapy medicinal products either regulated at the EU level as ATMPs in case of manufacturing at an industrial scale or at the French national level under national schemes if not manufactured at an industrial scale.

The increasing number of emerging infectious diseases over the past few decades can likely be explained by a loss in biodiversity. Deforestation and forest fragmentation on large spatial scales represent major threats to biodiversity and species interactions, particularly in a biodiversity hot spot like Southeast Asia. Biodiversity appears as a source of pathogenic diversity, but biodiversity loss is a source of epidemics, at least at a national level. At local levels conflicting results emerged on the supposed role of biodiversity in regulating the epidemiology of diseases. In this chapter we investigate (i) the origins and consequences of the potential impacts of land use changes for the spread and emergence of infectious diseases, (ii) what the likely ecological mechanisms are, and (iii) how a new framework was embedded in the ecosystem services’ approach (iv) the various gaps in knowledge impeding the full implementation of (iii) and (v) the lack of explicit reference to coviability.