ABSTRACT

Machines .....................................................................................................................9 1.3 Synthetic Biology in Academic Literature ........................................................................ 11 1.4 Societal Risks and Responsibilities Posed by Synthetic Biology .................................. 12

1.4.1 Playing God and Creating Articial Life ............................................................. 13 1.4.2 Environmental Release of Designed Organisms and Their Potential

Ecosystemic Impacts................................................................................................ 15 1.4.3 Biosecurity, Bioterrorism and Biowarfare ............................................................ 16 1.4.4 Global Justice and Intellectual Property .............................................................. 18 1.4.5 Biopunks, Biohackers and Do-It-Yourself Science ............................................... 21

1.5 Governance of Synthetic Biology ....................................................................................... 24 1.6 Conclusions ...........................................................................................................................25 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... 26 References ....................................................................................................................................... 26

One might even go as far as to suggest that in popular culture the science ction genre is part of the language of synthetic biology, since it would seem that any discussion on synthetic biology sooner or later makes reference to science ction as a metaphor for risk, ethics or social responsibility. In addition, the ethical issues of synthetic biology are associated with the impacts that past technologies have had on the planet and its inhabitants.