“UNLEASHING THE PLAGUE”

“UNLEASHING THE PLAGUE” " President Obama’s Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues released its first report last week, which calls for coordinated federal oversight of scientists working in the emerging field of synthetic biology, or “syn bio.”

According to a press release from the panel, which is comprised of 13 scientists, ethicists, and public policy experts, Obama “asked the commission to study the implications of synthetic biology following the May 20 announcement by the J. Craig Venter Institute that it had inserted a laboratory-made genome into a bacterial cell, creating an organism not found in nature. In three public hearings held over the past five months in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Atlanta, the Commission heard from over three dozen ethicists, scientists and others close to the issue and considered a range of possible actions the government could take to prevent problems that might occur in the future.”"