We must ask ourselves and think about what is "Human Practices" and why it is included in the iGEM competition. We know that is common that many students participating on iGEM dont know about this category or appreciation If they are not told about it and possibly they may not include it in their iGEM projects. For instance,many teams do this as a requirement of the contest or just outreach activity, without engaging in a deeper analysis in what may be "Human Practices." In our search for a Human to Practices Project, we had found the need to reflect on, what is Human Practices?, and why it has to be done?, and we met with some definitions and models developed and planned by SynBerc [1] and by Dr. Paul Ravinov [2], which we present a "Human Practices" broader and deeper than a Outreach.
Here are 2 examples that we found in our investigation about the understanding of Human Practices:
a). Based on the guidelines of SYNBERC:
The Human Practices Thrust encompasses three interdependent research clusters. The first cluster, Biosecurity, the second Ethics & the third Infrastructure.[1]
b). Quote of Paul Ravinov, from Ravinov lab:
We see developments in synthetic biology as an opportunity to invent new forms of collaborative practice. Standard approaches have sought to anticipate how new scientific developments will impact “society,” positioning themselves external to, and “downstream” of, the scientific work per se. This positioning, for example, was mandated by the Human Genome Initiative and the so-called ELSI project (ethical, legal, and social implications). By contrast, we are committed to an approach that fosters a co-production among disciplines and perspectives from the outset. The value of collaboration is that its goal is to build a synergistic and recursive structure within which significant challenges, problems, and achievements are more likely to be clearly formulated and successfully evaluated. Synthetic biology already represents a highly innovative assemblage of multiple scientific sub-disciplines, diverse forms of funding, complex institutional collaborations, serious forward-looking reflection, intensive work with governmental and non-governmental agencies, focused legal innovation, imaginative use of media, and the like. We begin with the assumption that from the outset, Thrust IV (SynBERC Thrust 4) must be an integral, if distinctive, part of this overall effort. It is a principle goal of Thrust IV to invent and sustain this form of collaboration[2]'
Dukakis: "Genetic manipulation has always been a controversial issue, an example is the clonation of the first mammal, Dolly the sheep, which further exacerbated the controversies. Years earlier, was the genetic manipulation of foods to make them resistant to pests and get better features, which began the debate on the necessity and the consequences of this practice. Recently there has appeared a new discipline, Synthetic Biology, and taking into account this background it is important in order to avoid prejudice and misconceptions,deeply assess the impact and implications of this discipline. Moreover, creating awareness in society about the benefits, risks, utilization and impact of Synbio for society in general as well as for science and technology. So I think it has been necessary to include within iGEM "Human Practices" to address the above."
Fotis: "My personal opinion is that the human practice is a vital part of IGEM because it provides essential information to public, answering their common questions about what is synbio. Responding questions to common people is very important for the reason that synbio revolution cannot be compared with another type of revolution because we make use of living parts."
Kesia: "The Human Practices project is necessary in this kind of competition because it's what keep us joined to our humanity. Before to be whatever we are, we are human beings and it's a must to have it in mind in order to do real science: Integral Science."
Valery: "In my personal opinion, is important to have Human Practices in scientific projects, because it is the bond that we have with our humanity, also with the society and our moral. It is very important also because it make us question ourselves about if the projects that we are developing are good for the communities around us, or if it just can get to be a problem for them. In addition, it is the area that focus on explaining everything that is done by scientists, in a way that every kind of public can understand, so that all the people is informed about what is going on on the labs."
Emmanuel: "This kind of projects requires to have a human practices because as we are playing to be gods, doing what we want with living systems, someone has to put a limit to our inventions, and verify that we are not harming anyone; consequently we have to show that our intentions are good and that we are doing it for the great good. But sometimes even though we have a good purpose, people doesn’t understand, so we, by doing human practices, convince them that this is the future and that we are doing it as a part of human evolution."
Arturo: "In my opinion,The Human Practices project, as one of the key parts in order to develop an iGEM project is possible because in this new branch of life sciences, there is a clear link to the outreach and introduction of concepts at different levels of the society of each country. This is not a science or venture that it´s away from the scrutiny and constant feedback from the public.
Therefore it is strongly justified to implementing Human Practices because otherwise the applications that are planned to be develop will lack of purpose if they are not intended to improve the human life, animal and our planet. Awareness and a clear assimilation of the concepts of synthetic biology is the primary objective of Human Practices aspects in all iGEM competition projects."
William: "Personally I think this is because due to the great potential of the area where the competition takes place: the synthetic biology and genetics.
These areas are taboo-science that most people see with fear and do not see justification from the moral point of view. But the truth is that these sciences taken in a responsible and humane, can solve many of the problems that the mankind are facing today.
The most common example is the production of food: making plants resistant to pests, more profitable or more nutritious. In the medicine is also used to produce new drugs and therapies that help to save lives.
At the same time human practice also motivate researchers to develop useful projects for humanity. Who does not want to go down in history as the one who changed all the mankind for the good?"
Naicolette: "Human Practices are possible, cause as there are smart ideas to do projects, there are smart ideas for their application, too. Among these applications we find both excellent and versatile uses and non-beneficial uses. Then, we need a good guidance to these ideas, not only between team members, but for those one are surrounding us (Reminding that we are living entities forming a system - society - and somehow those actions that we take affect others, starting a chain reaction).
- To achieve that orientation we need to know what we do.
- A right orientation is a good basis on which we'll put the know knowledge.
- That orientation is the key for an adequate thought or reflection.
- With this we'll make better ideas and more probabilities of a positive development - in every way - on all synthetic biology projects that we do.
- It should be noted that it's not just for synthetic biology, but all other branches of biology and by extension, in all the sciences.
- Without anything cited previously it would implicate potential hazards (greed, accidents, ward, vices, diseases, emergence of bad philosophies and other degradation of human behavior)."
Alicia: "This projects take into consideration strongly an ethical and social part, since they are developed by scientists with a conscience about humanity and society. They recognize the importance of informing society about the projects they develop and giving them the opportunity to take part in the decision process on topics that can change their lives and the way we live today. They get the chance to provide new ideas and applications to projects and their development. Besides, it is extremely important to create conscience on researchers about the work we are doing. They emphasize the fact that we are using all the tools available to benefit people, keeping always high safety levels. Some mistakes can be fatal, so they educate researchers to avoid this kind of situations."
José: "Throughout time man has wondered why his surroundings and because it has certain capabilities that other living beings do not possess. What distinguishes us from other living beings is our ability to reason and to create things, many of these good and necessary for humanity and other compromising our existence. That is why HumanPractices necessary to achieve find your way to improving our society where (in this case synthetic biology) to help us live better and get away from the potential risks if they fall into the wrong hands can happen."
Miguel: "Igem has a human practice part because they want to show to the world that Synbio can be good for humans. Synbio is a new area of study an for this reason people need to know about Synbio. Appart of that in science we help humans."
Salomon:"Well like Peter´s Parker Uncle Ben should say: “With every great power comes a great responsibility”. I believe science is indeed a great power, so is very important to have something like a human practice dept. to remind us all the great responsibility that we all have in behalf of this great and only world we have."
III. CONCLUSION
Our team has reflected that Human Practices is a fundamental part of this revolution called Synthetic Biology, in which we are being a part of it at the iGEM competition. It is necessary that the humanity that we call today society understands the concepts of Synthetic Biology, which is the main goal of this part of the competition, because if all the people involved do not understand how this science could affect them in a positive way, it won't be possible the development of this kind of projects.
In that vein, Human Practices makes possible the constant growth of a strong bridge of communication between the society and Synthetic Biology. This science will take into account, with priority, all the applications and implications that come with it, because of the fact that we are using living parts of the nature to create and recreate new things for the environment that are completely new.
We also think that for the future of the humanity, this science needs to be integral, because we humans are renowned for being rational beings with creativity that we can positively transform our environment and human life.
And of course we cannot fail to mention the fact that this means that our scientists are becoming part of a wonderful new mentality that shows the high degree of awareness and the way of commitment to the development of science.
"
