1. Ethical Issues of Synthetic Biology Alex Calladine

2. Directions Organise into groups of 7 – 9. Each group should nominate an individual to act as an impartial chair. Half of each group will defend a particular claim the other oppose. The chair should draw on the arguments provided by participants to come to a decision on the different claims and may be called upon to provide a judgement at the end.

3. 1. Synthetic Biology ‘creating life’ is morally wrong. What does it mean to play god? Should we care about religious views? What makes something ‘natural’ or ‘artificial’? Does something being unnatural mean that it is morally wrong? Should determining the moral rightness or wrongness of something like synthetic biology take into account our emotional responses such as disgust?

4. 2. People shouldn’t be allowed to own or patent life What is property? What sort of things do we usually consider property? What establishes a moral right to own something? What is ‘life’? Should it matter what sort of life it is? (Are some lives less morally important than others?) Should it matter what the application is – should medical applications that could benefit mankind be open to all?

5. 3. We should use synthetic biology for medical applications but not for enhancement. What is wrong with enhancement? Can a boundary be drawn between enhancement and therapeutic use? What is a medical application? Is it wrong to design your child? (what is wrong with eugenics)? Is it wrong to make such decisions when they will have an effect on future generations?

6. 4. We shouldn’t use synthetic biology for medical applications that drastically increase the human lifespan. What could the possible consequences of extending life be for both individuals and society as a whole? Is having a long life a good thing? What is a good life? Should we consider life extension an enhancement?

7. If you are interested in the ethical issues of synthetic biology please visit; www.sybhel.org

8. Claims Synthetic Biology ‘creating life’ is morally wrong. People shouldn’t be allowed to own or patent life. We should use synthetic biology for medical applications but not for enhancement. We shouldn’t use synthetic biology for medical applications that drastically increase the human lifespan.