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How gene editing could reduce the cost of cosmetics
- The cosmetics industry is expected to undergo a significant transformation driven by shifting consumer demand for cruelty-free products and the substantial growth of the sector, creating an urgent need for environmentally friendly molecular sources.
- Gene editing and synthetic biology technologies are projected to enable the production of molecules better for the environment than those from natural sources, potentially replacing all animal-derived ingredients and eliminating the carbon footprint, land use, water consumption, and energy requirements associated with traditional plant cultivation.
- Specific applications include the replacement of shark-derived squalane with lab-grown alternatives from sugarcane, with one supplier claiming to produce the majority of the world's supply using one square kilometer of land to avoid the killing of three million sharks, and the engineering of microbes to break down plastic waste.
- Market penetration estimates suggest that the global share of cosmetic ingredients produced by gene-edited microbes could increase from its current level of approximately 10%, with multi-million dollar deals indicating confidence in scaling production for perfumes and other ingredients.
- Economic expectations include a potential 50% reduction in the cost of goods through fermentation compared to extraction, with lower sequencing costs anticipated to be passed on to brands, making the technology a potential solution for affordability and a lifeline for the synthetic biology industry.
- Regulatory environments are viewed as favorable, with the US market expected to feature light touch regulation and lower risk compared to pharmaceuticals, while the EU maintains a distinction where nature-identical ingredients remain non-differentiable regardless of their genetically modified origins.
- Scientists anticipate that future advancements will allow for the creation of virtually every molecule currently used in cosmetics, as well as new molecules not currently accessible, with the process of finding optimal microbial conditions becoming quicker and more commercially viable as technology costs decline.