Synthetic biology gets wary welcome
Released on 02 September 2010
The emerging research area of synthetic biology may not suffer the general opposition which greeted other controversial technologies like GM crops, but its risks will need careful regulation if its promise is to be realised. These are the initial conclusions from a novel public dialogue project – using a card game – released by the ESRC Genomics Forum, based at the University of Edinburgh.
Top line project results also reveal that:
- from this first sample of UK citizens there did not emerge a serious fundamental objection to the very idea of synthetic biology.
- virus research, ‘garage biology’ and the potential use of synthetic biology for terrorist purposes were all identified as problematic, suggesting that these risks need addressing in policy. Issues of monopolies, patenting and private ownership were also noted.
- synthetic biology is a relatively difficult subject for the average citizen to engage with. It would be premature to draw strong conclusions about overall support for or concerns about synthetic biology. People are not familiar enough with the issues and will need more time to digest and reflect.
This item and more in our weekly science policy news round-up.
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