Synthetic biology takes genetic engineering techniques developed in the 1970s many steps forward. Those methods were largely confined to moving genes from one organism to another. Now, using techniques from molecular biology, computer science, and engineering, synthetic biology aims to create wholly new genetic recipes (and ingredients) that the older engineering simply could not cook up. More effective medicines, intelligent tumor-seeking bacteria, and cheap biofuels are just a few of the hoped-for applications—while new weapons of terror are one of the fears.
This rapidly advancing technology raises ethical questions about benefits and harms that have not been thoroughly addressed. Some of these are concrete physical worries, akin to the safety and security concerns first identified with the invention of recombinant DNA technology. Other concerns tap into our inner instincts about what is natural, and what is our relationship to the natural world, as well as scientific freedom, justice and access to the benefits of technology, and intellectual property rights. The Hastings Center, long at the forefront of interdisciplinary research into ethical issues in emerging technology, has received a $500,000 grant from the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for a two-year project to examine these issues.