An ethics for synthetic biology?

Authors

  • Jordi Maiso Spain

Keywords:

synthetic biology, engineering, biological systems

Abstract

With advances in sequencing techniques and insertion of synthetic genomes into recipient cells, the foundations are being laid for a new discipline full of promise, synthetic biology. Its objective is the design and manufacture of biological systems that do not exist in nature or the modification of already existing biological systems. With it, biology promises to become a subject of engineering, and living organisms into an extremely promising technological resource. According to this we would be facing the “dawn of a new era of biological creation” (Venter 2013, 16); a horizon “in which science and technology allow us to reduplicate and improve what nature has produced” (Church 2012, 12).1 Without a doubt, the discourse of synthetic biologists often takes on the tone of the great pioneers who discover terra incognita, but if the expansion of the horizon of the possible generates enthusiasm, it is also accompanied by shadows of uncertainty

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Bensaude-Vincent, B. y Benoit Browaeys, D. (2011): Fabriquer la vie. Où va la biologie de synthèse?, París.

Brecht, Bertolt (1968): Leben des Galilei, Leipzig, 1968.

Church, George y Regis, Ed (2012): Regenesis. How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves, Nueva York.

EGE – European Group of Ethics in Sciences and New Technologies to the European Comission (2009): Opinion No 25: Ethics of Synthetic Biology, Bruselas.

Endy, Drew (2011): “Engineering Biology”: http://edge.org/conversation/engineering-biology

ETC-Group (2011): The new biomassters: synthetic biology and the next assault on Biodiversity: http://www.etcgroup.org/sites www.etcgroup.org/files/biomassters_27feb2011.pdf

European Commission (2010): The Knowledge-Based-Bio-Economy (KBBE) in Europe: achievements and Challenges, Bruselas.

Gottwald, Frank y Krätzer, Anita (2014): Irrweg Bioökonomie, Berlin.

Lund Declaration (2009): http://www.vr.se/download/18.7dac901212646d84fd38000336/

OCDE (2009): The Bioeconomy to 2030. Designing a Policy Agenda, París.

OCDE (2014): Emerging Policy Issues in Synthetic Biology, París.

Pustovr, Toni y Mali, Franc (2014): “The Social and Ethical Aspects of Progress in the New and Emerging Sciences and Technologies”, Teorija in Praksa, let 51, 5/14, 717-725.

Rose, Nikolas (2007): The Politics of Life Itself, Nueva York.

Schmidt, Markus (2009): "Do I Understand what I Can Create?", http://www.markusschmidt.eu/pdf/chapter_06.pdf

Schmidt, Markus, ed. (2012): Synthetic biology: industrial and environmental applications, Weinheim.

Schummer, Joachim (2011): Das Gotteshandwerk. Die künstliche Herstellung vom Leben im Labor, Frankfurt am Main.

STAC (2014): The Future of Europe is Science. A Report of the President’s Science and Technology Advisory Council, Bruselas.

Venter, J. Craig (2013): Life at the Speed of Light. From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life, Nueva York

Published

2015-02-20

How to Cite

Maiso, J. (2015). An ethics for synthetic biology?. Encuentros En La Biología, 8(153), 21–24. Retrieved from https://revistas.uma.es/index.php/enbio/article/view/18056