Synthetic Biology - Challenges - Social and Ethical

Social and Ethical

Online discussion of “societal issues” took place at the SYNBIOSAFE forum on issues regarding ethics, safety, security, IPR, governance, and public perception (summary paper). On July 9–10, 2009, the National Academies' Committee of Science, Technology & Law convened a symposium on "Opportunities and Challenges in the Emerging Field of Synthetic Biology" (transcripts, audio, and presentations available).

Some efforts have been made to engage social issues "upstream" focus on the integral and mutually formative relations among scientific and other human practices. These approaches attempt to invent ongoing and regular forms of collaboration among synthetic biologists, ethicists, political analysts, funders, human scientists and civil society activists. These collaborations have consisted either of intensive, short term meetings, aimed at producing guidelines or regulations, or standing committees whose purpose is limited to protocol review or rule enforcement. Such work has proven valuable in identifying the ways in which synthetic biology intensifies already-known challenges in rDNA technologies. However, these forms are not suited to identifying new challenges as they emerge, and critics worry about uncritical complicity.

An example of efforts to develop ongoing collaboration is the "Human Practices" component of the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center in the US and the SYNBIOSAFE project in Europe, coordinated by IDC, that investigated the biosafety, biosecurity and ethical aspects of synthetic biology. A report from the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Hastings Center, a prestigious bioethics research institute, found that ethical concerns in synthetic biology have received scant attention.

In January 2009, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation funded the Woodrow Wilson Center, the Hastings Center, and the J. Craig Venter Institute to examine the public perception, ethics, and policy implications of synthetic biology. Public perception and communication of synthetic biology is the main focus of COSY: Communicating Synthetic Biology, that showed that in the general public synthetic biology is not seen as too different from 'traditional' genetic engineering. To better communicate synthetic biology and its societal ramifications to a broader public, COSY and SYNBIOSAFE published a 38 min. documentary film in October 2009 .

After a series of meetings in the fall of 2010, the Presidential Commission for the study of Bioethical Issues released a report, on December 16, titled "New Directions: The Ethics of Synthetic Biology and Emerging Technologies" to the President calling for enhanced Federal oversight in the emerging field of synthetic biology. This report lists recommendations on how new technology growth should be regulated to minimize harm. These recommendations are based on five ethical principles. These ethical principles are: to ensure the public benefit with as little harm, responsibility for the well-being of the environment and it's future generations, to protect intellectual freedom, that democracy is the key to making decisions, and that fairness is maintained. The panel that facilitated the production of the report, composed of 13 scientists, ethicists, and public policy experts, said that the very newness of the science gives regulators, ethicists and others time to identify problems early on and craft solutions that can harness the technology for the public good. Dr. Gutmann said the Commission’s approach recognizes the great potential of synthetic biology, including life saving medicines, and the generally distant risks posed by the field’s current capacity. "Prudent vigilance suggests that federal oversight is needed and can be exercised in a way that is consistent with scientific progress," she said.