Team:Newcastle/Ethics

= Ethics = Ethics is an important issue to think about, especially when we are considering working with toxic materials and modifying a life form. The iGEM2009 Newcastle team participated at an ethics brainstorming exercise at the iGEM-UK meeting at Edinburgh on the 24th of June 2009. Here are the main points that came out of this exercise:

=Ethical, Legal, Social Aspects of Synthetic Biology — Brainstorming exercise=

What can engineering bring to biology?

 * Further understanding of systems that are not understood
 * Make useful organisms (e.g. electricity) [?]
 * Make standards (+tick)
 * Prediction/verification tools (+tick)
 * Make biology more powerful, maybe uncontrollable
 * Feedback – design & modelling
 * Maths
 * Callout charges. Help desks. Linux.
 * Predictable outcomes
 * Unrealistic expectations (+tick)
 * A creative process
 * Objective overview of the system
 * Optimization
 * The design process
 * Problems/misunderstandings
 * Mindset focusing on solving problems instead of gaining knowledge
 * Solutions ☺
 * Complex designs
 * Innovation
 * Mass production
 * Bioart

What features of biology could be exploited by synthetic biology ?

 * Adapts
 * Replication
 * Species homology
 * Communication
 * Exploits standard parts within and between species ?
 * Can create a feature in a bug by using/mixing parts from other species
 * Synthetic organisms (e.g. plants) might outcompete wildtype ones
 * Exponential growth
 * System regulation
 * Self-preservation instinct
 * Mini-elephants & purple kittens
 * Molecular recognition
 * Self-assembly
 * Parallel processing
 * Evolution
 * Precise (molecular) control systems
 * Dinosaurs
 * Targeted solutions (e.g. to solve growing antibiotic resistance)
 * Stochasticity
 * Natural instinct to live
 * Neuroscience principles (e.g. neural networks)
 * Harnessing biological reactions that chemistry cannot yet accomplish

What kinds of applications could you imagine for synthetic biology in 50 years’ time?

 * Medical:
 * Vaccines
 * Transplantation /stem cells / making organs
 * Pushing human physical/mental abilities to new levels
 * Release of drugs by bacteria / enzymes by failed organs?
 * Destruction of malignant cells
 * No more ageing of humans. Eternal life?
 * A cure for flatulence
 * Personal activatable fluorescence
 * Biocomputing [linked to]
 * [linked with] living systems
 * Oxygen producing bugs
 * Outer space colonization [linked to]
 * [linked with] air recyclers + waste recyclers
 * Terraforming [with comment ‘Yes! ☺’]
 * Biofuels + biofuel cells
 * Biocomputers
 * Bio-diagnosers
 * Pets with logos
 * Superbugs!
 * Improved desalinisation
 * Houses grown from seeds
 * Artificial immune system
 * ‘super’ humans with more abilities?
 * Art
 * Food production
 * Anti-ageing. Anti-wrinkle. No more botox
 * Sleep button on kids
 * Remote control wake-up button for students
 * Military applications? (with funny face :|)
 * Dinosaurs!
 * Synthetic biology diseases [?]

What broader social challenges or questions face the synthetic biology community?

 * Public understanding of biology [annotated to include ‘misconceptions’] [with arrow drawn to]
 * [with arrow from] Commercial awareness of synthetic biology applications
 * Religion (sanctity of life)
 * Copyright (intellectual property)
 * Safety (products and methods)
 * Unethical use of technology (like any other technology)
 * Changing habits
 * Eventual creation of a sentient being?
 * Press!
 * Funding
 * Politics
 * X-Men Homo betterthanus
 * Acceptable range of colours for kittens/dinosaurs
 * Acceptability of creating new life forms which must be destroyed at the end of the experiment
 * Alteration of ecosystems
 * Non-compatible biologies (e.g. not DNA-based)

What legal and regulatory issues face synthetic biology?

 * Patents. Ensuring that BioBrick parts are free to the public
 * Creative commons law
 * Health & safety
 * DIY biology. Genetic transformations at home
 * Bioterrorism Act/legislation
 * Synthetic biology affecting medicine
 * Coordination between countries
 * Establishment of trust in biological products
 * Biological certificates
 * Proper education programs
 * Selection of model organisms
 * Eventual use in humans
 * What are the limits? Are there any limits?
 * Synthetic biology black market
 * Differing laws between countries
 * Absence of applicable laws in some (eg. 3rd world/nations.)
 * Legal status of synthetic organisms
 * Government legislation – misconceptions of synthetic biology and how we would use it

What ethical questions are raised by synthetic biology?

 * Is synthetic life still life?
 * What is life?
 * Do synthetic organisms have rights?
 * Should you patent synthetic life?
 * Is it ok to make a synthetic species extinct?
 * How synthetic is synthetic?
 * Who is responsible?
 * Who has the right to benefit from the advantages of synthetic organisms?
 * Are we prepared to take responsibility?
 * Should synthetic organisms be introduced into human physiological systems?
 * What organisms are we allowed to synthesize?
 * Are we ready to be replaced by synthetical forms of lives? (synthetical humans)
 * Are they actually alive?
 * Are you ready to treat them the same way as ‘naturals’?
 * Who can and cannot work in synthetic biology?
 * Can you stop them once created? No switch!
 * Are we trying to play ‘God’?
 * Is it right to have lab strains?
 * Is it ok to create synthetic weapons?

Please write down one word to describe how you feel about synthetic biology

 * Complicated
 * Zeitgeist
 * Object oriented Gen. Eng.
 * The science of 21st century
 * Awesome
 * Promise
 * Fun and creativity
 * Worthy