Talks

SyntheticBiology ethics

Syntheticbiology, a novel advancement in science field, is a popular study inrecent years. Itopens door for the scientists to innovate their ideas and put them into practice.However, some people are concerned about the ethical issues of it, namelybiosafety, environmental damages, biosecurity and intellectual property right.In the following discussion,light will be shed on these aspects and solutions.

Withrespect to the biosafety issue, it may be difficult to identify agents ofconcern. It is because synthetic biology involves the creation of lots of novelorganisms in which it is challenging to classify them with regard to pathogeny. The reasons for this are because of the lack ofprior experience, difficulties in identifying sequences with pathogenicproperties as well as the unsuitability of methods or practice used. 

Otherthan that, the leakage of “bio-product” may threaten our health and nature.Upon the creation of biological organisms without in-depth understanding, itbrings loads of uncertainties in terms of the control means and pathogenicpossibility. Once they are leaked, it may result from undesirable crossbreedingamong products themselves, or worse with other natural organisms whichseriously wreak havoc on the human health or even nature. One scenario is likethat infectious disease may be transmitted from laboratory workers to theirfamily members, and to the whole community through incontrollable airbornetransmission. There have been such documented cases of virus leakage fromlaboratories. For example, the leakage of smallpox poxvirus in Birmingham laboratoryin United Kingdom in 1978, SARS virus in Singapore and in China in 2003 and2004 respectively, which controversially draw people’s attentions on thebiosafety of synthetic biology.

Otherthan biosafety problem, environmental damages are also one of the concerns. Withthe requirement of the resources for developing biomass of synthetic biology,it would be exploiting our ecosystems like lands and other natural resources.For example, large pieces of land were used to the bio-fuel development due toland limitation, which puts intense pressures on land that potentially affectthe food yield, communities and the current ecosystem.

Biosecurityis also one of the concerns of the synthetic biology. Given an understandingthat some products are easily synthesized and lethal, it leads to the easyacquisition of the virulent strains for bioterrorism as weapon for detrimentalpurpose. For example in 2002, poliovirus was easily synthesized with anestimated cost USD 7500 in laboratory setting in universities.

Asidesfrom that, intellectual property right is also one of the problems. It isbecause synthetic biology involves originalities with a number of new productsand techniques invented. This may lead to the copyright problem and dilemmabetween openness of resources and patent.

Regulationsand policy can help solving these problems. By regulating DNA synthesis throughencouraging the companies which synthesize genes to report the questionable DNAorders, this is effective in regulating the ethical issues and currently inpractice in United Stats and France. Other than that, building an up-to-datedatabase that shows the sequences of genes and experiments which are at riskcan also get the root of the problems.

To dealwith the issue of intellectual property right, improving the intellectualproperty system to a sound and effective system is an integral part such thatthe design rights are protected and the “openness sources” of synthetic biologycan be attained at the same time.

Enhancingthe international cooperation in regulating and governing synthetic biology isan effective way to cope with biosafety and biosecurity problems. Differentcountries can exchange the sources and data, and communicate to establishmeasures to wrestle with the existing concerns due to synthetic biologyregardless of the difficulties. For example, human genome project paves thepath for the success of countries collaboration in solving problems.

In thesocial aspects, a lot of steps can be taken to deal with the synthetic biologyissue. First, creating platforms for the public to discuss about it is anefficient way to collect different opinions from people from all disciplines of life. Since the technology ofsynthetic biology is closely related to the life of the public so that thepublic should have the right and obligation to engage in decision-makingprocess. Not only does it help collect more diverse ideas, it can also allowthe public to know more about the safety and security problems with regard to syntheticbiology.

Anothersocial aspect that we can take action is through education. Taking iGEMcompetition as an example, it provides opportunities for undergraduate and highschool students to learn and practice synthetic biology in a risk-free environment. Other thancompetition, some universities do provide courses regarding to biosafety andbiosecurity by holding seminars and conferences.

Althoughsynthetic biology brings a lot of benefits to our society and the world, italso has some potentially ethical problems that we need to focus. As a result,it is a part andparcel for us to delve into,in order to carve out a better future with the development of the syntheticbiology.

References:

1.     OECD, Royal Society (2010), “Symposium onOpportunities and Challenges in the Emerging Field of Synthetic Biology –Synthesis Report”.

2.     Presidential Committee for the Study ofBioethical Issues: New directions: the ethics of synthetic biology and emergingtechnologies. 2010 [http://www.bioethics.gov/news/].

3.     http://www.bmj.com/content/325/7377/1371/reply