WASHINGTON — A powerful new technology holds the promise of rapidly altering genes to make malaria-proof mosquitoes, eliminate their Zika-carrying cousins or wipe out an invasive species, but a report Wednesday says these “gene drives” aren’t ready to let loose in the wild just yet.

Advisers to the government say lots more research is needed to learn to safely use gene drives and understand the ecological and social consequences of essentially hijacking evolution, spreading genetic changes through populations of insects, animals or certain plants faster than nature.

And the public, around the world, needs a say in whether and how gene drives eventually are used, especially because some may be intended for low-income countries, stressed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineer and Medicine.

“Public engagement cannot be an afterthought,” said Vanderbilt University medical ethicist Elizabeth Heitman, who co-chaired the National Academies’ committee.

Gene drives are on the horizon. Already, a California lab has hatched mosquitoes that spread a malaria-blocking gene every time they reproduce. Researchers say it should be possible to eliminate populations of another mosquito — the kind that spreads the Zika virus and dengue fever — by making them sterile.

Similarly, gene drives one day might be used to wipe out invasive species such as invasive rodents that devastate native plants and animals on many of the world’s islands, without toxic chemicals.