Bioethics Committee President Barack Obama today its final report on the risks and benefits of young field of synthetic biology. His conclusion: no new regulations are needed, but federal officials must be vigilant in case of greater risks arise in the future.
Obama called for the study in May after a team led by biologist J. Craig Venter said he had inserted a synthetic genome into a self-replicating cell. After three meetings, central conclusion of the Commission of 13 members is as promising synthetic biology for the production of biofuels and new drugs, but do not pose serious risks to the environment or health. "The benefits of this technology on the rise and our commitment as a country to intellectual freedom suggest no moratorium. ... No new institutions or laws are needed, "said the commission co-chairman Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania.
Instead, the 18 recommendations of the group are focused on dialogue and keeping an eye on the ground. Within 18 months, a White House-level coordination committee should publish journals watching financing, licensing policies, gaps in the risk assessment, the ethics education, and rules monitoring for researchers. In addition, a private organization should establish a fact-checking website that would correct exaggerations in the media on synthetic biology - such as claims that Venter created life. Venter's feat was "extraordinary in many ways, but" does not amount to the creation of life be it a scientific question or morality, "the report concludes.
Some experts are worried not as about the academic and synthetic biology company, but about DIY enthusiasts in their garages. George Church of Harvard University told the bioethics panel that these "do-it-yourself" should be authorized and monitored. But the panel concluded that fans are nowhere near the synthesis of a self-replicating organism. "We are not there yet, and we will never get there," said Gutmann.
But if synthetic biology removed, new rules may be needed if the ongoing review of risk by federal officials . " identify the safety or security of unmanaged major concerns, the government should consider enforcing certain mandatory reporting or monitoring for all researchers ... whatever the sources of financing, "the report said. The government can also need to revise US rules limiting the information and documents sent to other countries. But any change in these so-called export controls "must not unduly restrict" trade between international scientists says report.
The recommendations are essentially the same in a draft report that the committee discussed last month. Since then, the group has refined a label, said the 18-month timetable for the examinations, and called to share the results with the public, says Gutmann.
The Commission now plans to raise two new projects. From its next meeting in February, the committee will examine the ethics of genetic and neurological tests.
At the request of Obama, the panel is monitoring the recent revelation that in the mid-1940s, a US federal researcher deliberately infected patients in Guatemala with syphilis. The commission form an investigation team to investigate the unethical experiments and will ask an international task force to examine whether the US rules for clinical trials in other countries are properly protecting human subjects aujourd ay, says Gutmann.
UPDATE 1:10 p.m.:
Some activists have criticized the report, saying stricter controls on synthetic biology are required. In a letter sent to the Commission today, 58 environmental, religious, and others say that the report is flawed because it did not properly evaluate the environmental risks of the release of synthetic organisms, relies too on "suicide genes" for preventing the synthetic forms of life to replicate if they escape, and depends on the industry to regulate themselves. The groups, which include Friends of the Earth, ETC Group and the International Centre for call evaluation technology for a moratorium on the commercial use and release of synthetic organisms until the risks are better understood.
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