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Ethics in synthetic biology

It is not surprising that synthetic biology, the science which adapts and designs living organisms with myriad and undefined applications, has a broad ethical dimension. An ethical dimension … ethical questions … ethics … what on earth? Weren’t we talking exact science here? Ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do. Ethics is about trying to give answers to questions about the proper way to act or react in certain situations. Note that the ethical course of action is not dependent on social conventions, religious beliefs or the law! As synthetic biology is a new, rapidly expanding scientific field with many anticipated applications and a high impact on society, it is important to address the associated social and ethical issues right from the start of its development. Researchers in synthetic biology have been really keen on doing so as to avoid problems with public perception experienced in other fields. As an iGEM team with a heart for synthetic biology, we want to carry on this tradition and devote some time and space on this wiki to social and ethical implications of this field of research. Ethical questions concerning new technologies such as synthetic biology can be divided into questions regarding physical harms and questions regarding non-physical harms. The former encompass issues related to safety, a synthetic organism may have negative effects on the environment or human beings, and security, products of synthetic biology could potentially be used for acts of bioterrorism. Non-physical harms are harms to the well-being of individuals or communities. Many of these issues, physical and non-physical have already been thoroughly debated upon by scientists during various conferences. There has, however, been less attention for more undefined non-physical harms. Here we highlight some of the questions that come to the foreground when zooming in on synthetic biology. We presented them also to some ethicists and collected their varying visions.

On creating life and the morality thereof

One of the goals of synthetic biology is the creation of new organisms with functions that are not found in nature. Also the creation of minimal organisms from the ground up (cfr. Venter) is an application of synthetic biology. If the creation of novel entities like microorganisms equals creating life or merely a biological machine remains a point of discussion. The leads us to the next question: is creating life acceptable?