Interdisciplinary discussion on GenomeELECTION

On September 11, 2019, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) held an interdisciplinary conference at the Leibniz Association in Berlin on the topic of "GenomELECTION" - Genome Editing - Ethical, Legal, and Communication Science Aspects in Molecular Medicine and Crop Breeding. The organizers' primary goal was to present all scientific disciplines touched upon by the topic to a broader audience and to stimulate discussion between the various disciplines. To engage all interdisciplinary participants in this topic, a scientific presentation was first given on the terms genome editing, as well as technology research and technology assessment of these technologies. A second section then addressed ethical issues surrounding genome editing. Following this, the legal regulations regarding green and red genome editing based on the ECJ's mutagenesis ruling were presented, and the various constitutional regulations were examined. Also interesting were the presentations from the museum sector, which presented the topic of genome editing in museums as a space and the resulting insights from it from a communication science perspective. This included, in particular, the so-called ErbUndGut supermarket as a possible example from which important communication science insights could be gained. The event concluded with a concluding discussion. The presentations and key messages from the event are available in a BMBF publication, which can be downloaded online from the BMF website.