An AP story that appeared in today's Arizona Daily Star focuses on those who play with DNA at home. We are to the point where hobbyists have the knowledge to use off the shelf equipment to start playing around at home and creating life with new genes and properties. One example is a woman who is trying to create yogurt bacteria which glow green when exposed to melamine.
I am sure most people who do this are well intentioned, but it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see the some potential nasty side effects. The law of unintended consequences could come into play quickly. The unlikely but frightening scenario is someone accidentally (or intentionally) creates an easily transmittable deadly bacteria. What if the yougurt bacteria works at its assigned task of glowing in melamine, but causes human health effects? Say someone is working on genetically modified crops and the pollen gets out in the wild, altering crops of nearby fields? The potential economic cost is huge and the person probably would have substantial liability.
This is a particularly difficult activity to regulate. Scientific journals publish enough details for skilled amateurs to recreate and advance a lot of work. These journals are readily available either through subscription or university libraries. The equipment is not expensive and easy to obtain.
This is not really my field so I am not sure how large the threat and potential benefits really are. Perhaps even more worrying, I am not sure there is anything that can really be done except educate the bio-hackers as much as we can about safety and ethics in their research.
Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist blog.
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5 comments:
That is a little unnerving. Do you think some governmental agency is at least secretively watching over some of this? Homeland security, maybe? Heck, they are supposedly watching and listening to potential threats. Yikes.
How long will it be before corn becomes self aware and takes over the planet? Creepy.
Should we on the lookout for some killer tomatos?
We are have entered the 21st century. Think the next 20 years will be interesting and full of thrills. While we didn't enter space in a big way, many of the creepy Sci-Fi predictions will come to pass.
Pray. Or not. That's about all you can do. And hope that the good guys are smarter/luckier than the bad guys. (Btw, LOL at AA's remark.)
The ethics of this stuff are so tricky. I mean, even for the legitimate scientists, I'm not sure what we should or shouldn't do. We could perhaps cure all diseases, prolong life indefinitely, enough food for everyone; or, on the other hand, we might unleash literal Hell on Earth. Given our track record, which way do you suppose it would go?
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