Team:Peking S/project/hp/risk

Human Practice

Introduction|Synthetic Biology vs. Genetically Modified Organism|Public Investigation|Risks and Measurements Analysis |Acknowledgement&Reference

Risks and Measurements Analysis

Synthetic biology posseses potential danger for its ability to generate new and unknown organisms. Measures should be taken to reduce these risks to a minimum. Some of the risks possessed by products of synthetic biology have been outlined below:

•Negative environmental impact: A synthetically created micro-organism might have a side effect of interacting with another environmental substance and harms the environment.

Box1. Although our system includes several genes from Vibrio cholera, Streptomyces griseus and S. coelicolor, respectively, these genes are not directly involved with virulence or antibiotic resistance in any case.

•Contamination of natural genome pool: Any genetic exchange between a synthetic biological entity and a naturally occurring biological entity would result in contamination of natural genome.

•Uncontrolled consequence: Synthetic biology products released into the environment to accomplish a specific task should have a controlled lifespan outside the lab. If not, one can envision unintended consequences, such as collapse of system balance.

Box2.In our lab, bacterial cells are preserved in certain conditions and all the materials and instruments, wastes included, are sterilized with alcohol or bleach after experiments. In addition, our protocols are carefully designed to eliminate potential hazards to the public or to the environment.

Three aspects on regulating genetic technology have been described in the literature [3]: Individual Rights and Duties, Scientific Regulation by Administrative agencies, and Legislative Pre-emption.

•Individual Rights and Duties

•Researchers have to be aware of the possible impact of their research methods and products.

•Anyone has the right to launch a litigation when they find the danger of a synthetic organism.

•Scientific Regulation by Administrative Agencies

In the context of synthetic biology, regulatory agencies need to address the following issue:

•All of the synthetic biology product should have a lifespan under control when applied outside the laboratory.

•There should be little possibility of synthetic organism genetic exchanging with naturally organisms.

•Before applied, synthetic organism must be well characterized through an extensive test protocol.