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Biosecurity And The Act Of Playing God Essay

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Redesigning biological parts, producing bacterial genomes and developing malarial drugs; these are all applications of synthetic biology. Although there is not an exact definition of synthetic biology, it is suggested to be the practice of combining biology and engineering, redesigning biological entities in order to produce biological systems that do not already exist in nature (BIO, 2011).The growing area of genomics allows these artificial biological systems to be produced. But with such powerful tools there are risks and ethical issues associated; such as bioterrorism, Biosecurity and the act of ‘playing God’. As synthetic Biology develops the need for companies such as Amyris, to have regulations in order to deal with ethics will increase.

With our ability to now synthesise and sequence DNA, and a greater understanding of the genome, it is said that synthetic biology will be able to “heal us, feed us and fuel us” (6) Researchers are …show more content…

Producing a genome from scratch raises questions about life and nonlife, natural and artificial, and that scientists are ‘playing god’, by tampering with things that they do not fully understand. It has been suggested that synthetic biology is acceptable, as long as it only produces microbial life and does not affect human life. As products are produced from synthetic biology, thought should be given to the intrinsic value of the creations and not just be viewed as instrumental, as a synthetic creation with a set of genes, could be considered by some to be a living organism. But do the benefits associated with synthetic Biology outweigh the ethical arguments? (Belt, 2009) Artemisinin is a substance that could be used to produce synthetic chemicals to treat malaria. Because Malaria kills more than one million people every year, surely the ethical issues involved with creating a drug such as this, are outweighed by the benefits. (Keasling,

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There is a great need to automate and innovate new methods to synthesize new genomes (Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome

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The history of genetic engineering dates back to early prehistoric times. Our ancestors selectively breeded their crops and livestock, choosing the plants and animals with the best characteristics to reproduce. As scientists discovered more about genetics and as technology developed, mankind got closer to being able to directly alter an organism’s characteristics. In 1963, one of the most successful pieces of propaganda, with over 129 million copies sold worldwide, was published, and it completely altered the scope of this world. Norman Bridwell’s Clifford, the Big Red Dog spoke passionately regarding genetic engineering, portraying the practice in a positive light.

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" Online posting. Synthetic Biology.www.churchofscotland.org.uk. Church of Scotland, May 2010. Web.

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