By Matt Jones

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) An international advocacy coalition today called for a moratorium on the development of new synthetic organisms for commercial use while new international regulations for governing the synthetic biology sector are created to protect the environment and people from unknown perils.

The coalition said today that synbio represents "extreme genetic engineering." It said there currently is little or no governance over synthetic organisms, and private companies cannot be trusted to self-regulate and protect people and the environment from risk and harm.

"We are calling for a global moratorium on the release and commercial use of synthetic organisms until we have established a public interest research agenda, examined alternatives, developed the proper regulations, and put into place rigorous biosafety measures," Carolyn Raffensperger, executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, said in a statement today.

"Self-regulation of the synthetic biology industry simply won't work," added Andy Kimbrell, executive director of the International Center for Technology Assessment. "Current laws and regulations around biotechnology are outdated and inadequate to deal with the novel risks posed by synthetic biology technologies and their products."

Friends of the Earth and over 100 international groups focused on environmental, bioscience, food safety, human and consumer rights issues, and religion, said in a report published today that although the synbio market had a value of more than $1.6 billion in 2011 and could hit $10.8 billion by 2016, there has been "little or no governance of the industry or assessment of the novel risks posed by synthetic organisms."

In a conference call today unveiling the report, Jaydee Hanson, policy director at the International Center for Technology Assessment, said that the first creation of a synthetic genome and its implantation into a microbe by the J. Craig Venter Institute in 2010 "should have been a wake-up call for governments around the world, but little new oversight resulted."

"The ability to synthesize DNA and create synthetic organisms and products is far outpacing our understanding of how these novel products work in the real world. Even engineering simple organisms could have major ecological and health effects," Hanson said.

In its report, "The Principles for the Oversight of Synthetic Biology," the consortium calls for governments to take specific steps to account for a range of possible effects caused by synthetic organisms.

It calls for a moratorium on the release and commercial use of synthetic organisms, cells, or genomes, until a government research agenda has been established to study the public's interest. The moratorium also would hold while alternative approaches are considered and risk assessments are made, and international oversight and security mechanisms are developed.

Originally posted here:
Coalition Wants Moratorium on 'Extreme' Synthetic Bio Businesses

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