Ethics research and SynBio

With a technology as recent as SynBio, it is not surprising that ethical deliberation of implications is still emerging. However literature on SynBioEthics is constantly increasing. These publications are supplemented by SynBio researchers’ awareness of ethical issues, with ethics sessions at all annual Synthetic Biology conferences to date. In 2006, attendees at this conference considered self regulation akin to the 1975 Asilomar declaration on genetic engineering. The issues of ethics and regulation have also been discussed by journalists, science writers and NGOs; and in other papers in professional ethics and science journals. However, no existing research has specifically addressed ethics as it applies to SynBio for human health.

Safety has been designated a cross-cutting theme within SYBHEL. There are two components to the ethical debate over safety in SynBio: biosafety and biosecurity. The safety perspective considers the potential negative effects of synthetic or artificial organisms for the environment or for human beings. If a synthetic entity were to ‘escape’ from the laboratory and interact with or alter the environment in an unexpected way, the outcome could be disastrous. Thus rigorous safety standards are required. The security perspective is that the products of SynBio could be harnessed by those wishing to commit harmful acts such as biological terrorism. Scientists have, for example, already re-synthesised the polio virus and the extremely virulent form of influenza that led to the 1918 pandemic.