Dealing with the Dangers
Particular concerns regarding synthetic biology work will be presented in this chapter. What hazards are involved and what threats they pose will be discussed. We will also look at methods to assess these hazards in order to prepare for any mishaps they m
- PDF / 916,306 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 476.22 x 680.315 pts Page_size
- 36 Downloads / 227 Views
Dealing with the Dangers 6.1
The Risks of Synthetic Bioarchitectures – 58
6.2
Risk Assessment – 60
6.2.1 6.2.2 6.2.3
T he Consequence Term – 61 Frequency of Occurrence – 62 Caveats – 62
6.3
Model Ecosystems – 63
6.4
Handling Biohazards – 63
6.5
Orthogonality – 63
6.6
Constant Monitoring – 64 Further Reading – 65
© Springer International Publishing AG 2018 E.-K. Ehmoser-Sinner, C.-W. D. Tan, Lessons on Synthetic Bioarchitectures, Learning Materials in Biosciences, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73123-0_6
6
58
Chapter 6 · Dealing with the Dangers
What You Will Learn in This Chapter Particular concerns regarding synthetic biology work will be presented in this chapter. What hazards are involved and what threats they pose will be discussed. We will also look at methods to assess these hazards in order to prepare for any mishaps they might cause. Assessment of risk will be defined in terms of the impact such hazards would have on human health and the environment, as well as the likelihood of such mishaps happening. We will discuss some means by which risk assessments can be made more reliable, as well as some strategies for minimizing the impact of certain hazards.
6.1 The Risks of Synthetic Bioarchitectures
6
We have seen how different groups in the synthetic biology community have highlighted and addressed safety concerns arising from such work. As with all powerful and fast-moving technologies, synthetic biology—and consequently its toolbox, synthetic bioarchitectures— can have severe and far-reaching impacts on existing life, if not guarded against in time. Potential of Synthetic Biology We are about to learn how to manipulate the most basic elements of living systems ‘In near future, synthetic genomics technology should make it possible to recreate any existing virus for which the complete DNA sequence is known.’
http://www.grid.unep.ch
This is particularly true in the case of synthetic organisms. Globalization has already produced unintended consequences, such as xenobiotics, which are organisms that (even unintentionally) are transported by travelers or as contaminations on containers or ship surfaces (for example, water ballasts). They are often imported because they are considered attractive, such as many flowers—for example, the beautiful Kosmee flower. Another example is the large, sweet, colorful Pomacea water snail, which became popular in aquaristics but became a considerable threat to Spanish rice fields; consequently, the importation of Pomacea has been prohibited by European Union (EU) law since 2013. Invasive organisms, such as this snail, sometimes present a disturbance to the natural balance in a population, and many examples come to mind, from plants to animals, where this phenomenon has been observed. Over time, many such “intruders” have become integrated into the ecosystem; however, in other cases, the original “wild” form has vanished. There is deep concern that the toolbox of synthetic bioarchitectures could be harnessed for the development of a n
Data Loading...
