A huge variety of naked/free nucleic acids are being produced in …

• Executive Summary
• ‘Naked’ and ‘free’ nucleic acids
• DNA persists in all environments and is readily taken up by cells of all organisms
• Hazards of naked nucleic acids
• The horizontal transfer of transgenic DNA
• The hazards of horizontal gene transfer
• Conclusion
• References
• Box 1: Naked nucleic acids in genetic engineering biotechnology
• Box 2 Free nucleic acids resulting from genetic engineering biotechnology
• Box 3: Hazards from naked nucleic acids
• Box 4: Reasons to expect that transgenic DNA may be more likely to spread horizontally than non-transgenic DNA
• Box 5: Potential hazards from horizontal gene transfer of naked/free nucleic acids
• Box 6: Possible links between genetic engineering biotechnology and the recent resurgence of infectious diseases
• Box 7: Current regulatory oversight is seriously out of date and does not address the dangers of naked or free nucleic acids

• Generation of new viruses that cause disease
  
• Generation of new bacteria that cause diseases
  
• Spreading drug and antibiotic resistance genes among the viral and bacterial pathogens, making infections untreatable
  
• Random insertion into genomes of cells resulting in harmful effects including cancer
  
• Reactivation of dormant viruses, present in all cells and genomes, which may cause diseases
  
• Multiplication of ecological impacts due to all the above