Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Should moral objections to synthetic biology affect public policy?

  • Commentary
  • Published:

From Nature Biotechnology

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Moral concerns as to the relationship of synthetic biology with nature do not provide a convincing basis for more stringent regulatory oversight of the field.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Boldt, J. & Müller, O. Nat. Biotechnol. 26, 387–389 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Preston, C.J. Environ. Values 17, 23–39 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Cho, M.K., Magnus, D., Caplan, A.L., McGee, D. & the Ethics of Genomics Group. Science 286, 2087–2090 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. <http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge237.html>.

  5. Charles, Prince of Wales. Questions about genetically modified organisms. Daily Mail 1 June 1999.

  6. <http://etcgroup.org/upload/publication/707/01/etc_won_report_final_color.pdf>.

  7. <http://etcgroup.org/upload/publication/602/01/synbioreportweb.pdf>.

  8. Brent, R. Nat. Biotechnol. 22, 1211–1214 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Royal Academy of Engineering. Synthetic Biology: Public Dialogue on Synthetic Biology (Royal Academy of Engineering, London, 2009).

  10. Kaebnick, G.E. Perspect. Biol. Med. 50, 572–584 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Streiffer, R. & Rubel, A. Public Aff. Q. 18, 223–248 (2004).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Pollan, M. The Botany of Desire: A Plant's Eye View of the World (Random House, New York, 2001).

    Google Scholar 

  13. <http://www.scienceprogress.org/2008/11/synthetic-biology/>.

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and from the US National Endowment for the Humanities.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gregory E. Kaebnick is at The Hastings Center, Garrison, New York, USA.,

    Gregory E Kaebnick

Authors
  1. Gregory E Kaebnick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gregory E Kaebnick.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kaebnick, G. Should moral objections to synthetic biology affect public policy?. Nat Biotechnol 27, 1106–1108 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1209-1106

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1209-1106

  • Springer Nature America, Inc.

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation