Team:Panama/human practice

Contents 1 HUMAN PRACTICE 2 Human Practices Project Objective 2.1 Survey 2.2 BIOETHICS: 2.2.1 Awarded 2.3 SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY PROMOTION CAMPAIGN WITHIN SOCIETY 3 Human Practices Topics Resume 3.1 Posible risk to human kind 3.2 Create Artificial Life 3.3 Patent Genetic Material 3.4 Biosafety vs Bioseccurity, Not in Spanish 4 Conclusions and Discussion 5 Conclusiones y Discusión 5.1 A NOT ENDED JOURNEY 5.2 GALLERY

HUMAN PRACTICE

Understand the responsibilities and issues that arise with the development of new scientific and technological progress, especially when these are related to the conception and life management, as happen with the Synthetic Biology field. This project is focused on addressing the same issues and topics that the actual and not ended debate developed in The Presidential Commission chaired by Amy Gutmann for the Study of Bioethical Issues, established by the U.S. government president Barack Obama in November 24, 2009, that addressed issues such as the announcement of the Venter Institute on the creation of the first bacteria with synthetic DNA in July of this year We must do and ask some reflections about our own conception of develop and relation with nature, to respond to these scientific advances.

Human Practices Project Objective

Our project goal is to establish in the Republic of Panama a communication bridge between the whole civil society (including expert and not expert) and Synthetic Biology (SB) developers’ vision.

Activities As a part of Human Practices Project, we develop the following activities:

• Development of a Survey and interviews related to different subjects linked to the new field of Synthetic Biology in our country.
• Discussion of Bioethical Issues within several Synthetic Biology matters.
• SB Promotion Campaign within the civil society.

Survey

Se realizo un survey sobre las cuestiones mas importantes desde el nacimiento del iGEM competition, con la finalidad de comprender la percepción y a su vel el nivel de preparación de nuestra comunidad (especializados y no especializados en el tema)para con el nuevo campo de la Biología Sintética. Se realizo en primera instancia a los miembros del iGEM Panama Team, aunque actualmente se continua con sondeos a otros sectores de la sociedad panameña. Nuestro survey esta orientado a tratar dos cuestiones, en primera instancia se eligieron las preguntas más representativas acerca de que es la biologia sintetica y los temas que podriamos llamar "human practices". Como segundo punto profundiza sobre la cuestión de las posibilidades de una salida de control de las tecnologías y como pueden evitarse y mitigarse estas posibilidades.

A survey was designed and applied to comprise iGEM competition principal subjects since the beginning, with the aim of understanding the perception and levels of knowledge of our community (specialized and non-specialized population) on the matters of Synthetic Biology. This survey was applied first to iGEM Panama Team; however, further samplings upon other Panamanian society sector have been taken periodically since that time. Our survey is oriented to deal with two principal subjects. The first contains the most representative questions on Synthetic Biology and Human Practices. The second, is related to different discussions about the possibility of having an out-of-control incident, how to react to this situation, mitigation procedures and how to avoid these issues.

BIOETHICS:

A fundamental section of the Human Practices projects has been to develop an extensive review of conceptions and definitions about Synthetic Biology. This action, gave us a wider vision of the objectives and aims of this science and its principal target was to create a strong enough conceptual framework to perform a interpretative translation into a more colloquial language directed to the whole civil society, and which allows the latter to acquire its own opinion and to make point of views and clearly defined decisions related to various bioethical and legal matters within Synthetic Biology field. Therefore, we can divide our philosophical reflection into stages as follows

1. What is Synthetic Biology?
2. Is this field different to other existent ones related to Biology as a science?
3. How Biology and Engineering approaches get together on the Synthetic Biology Field?
4. Which are the principal issues related to Synthetic Biology?
5. What is iGEM?

After the revision of these matters, we set the goal of getting deep into the question: Which factual possibility of having an out–of–control situation there exist within this technological development?

This work and the inner iGEM Panama Team application of the survey results were synthesized in one poster that was shown on the XIII National Scientific Congress from the Panamanian Association for Science Advance (APANAC), which is the most stable and recognized entity in the scientific scenery in Panama. The poster and presentation exposed by iGEM Panama Team generated a great amount of interest among the concurrent public and the evaluating judges in several Synthetic Biology matters like ‘What is Synthetic Biology?’, ‘Which are Synthetic Biology implications to society? (patents, bioterrorism, artificial creation of life, etc)’.

Una parte fundamental del Human Practices Project ha sido el realizar una revisión de las concepciones y definiciones, de lo que se conoce como Biologia Sintetica, la cual nos proporciono una visión más amplia de que objetivos y fines persigue la Biologia Sintetica. El objetivo de esta revisión era poder desarrollar un marco conceptual suficientemente sólido para luego poder realizar una traducción a un lenguaje más coloquial y asimilable para la sociedad civil, que le permita en ultima instancia poder hacerse una propia opinión y poder posteriormente tomar posiciones y decisiones claramente definidas en las diversas cuestiones Bioéticas y legales que genera este campo. En este sentido podemos dividir nuestra reflexión filosofica en las siguientes etapas:

1. ¿Qué es la Biología Sintética?,
2. ¿Es diferente este campo a los otros ya existentes, en qué?
3. ¿Cómo se integra el Enfoque ingenieril a la Biología en el campo de la Biología Sintética?
4. ¿Cuáles son los principales "issues" alrededor de la Biología Sintética?
5. ¿Qué es iGEM?

Una vez revisados estas cuestiones nos propusimos profundizar en la cuestión, ¿Qué posibilidad real existe de un posible salida de control de este desarrollo tecnologico?

Este trabajo y los resultados de la encuesta a lo interno del iGEM Panama Team se sintetizaron en el poster presentado en el XIII Congreso Cientifico Nacional, de la Asociación Panameña para el Avance de la Ciencia (APANAC) el cual es la más antigua y más reconocida gremio en el ambito científico en Panamá. El Poster y la presentación por parte de miembros del iGEM Team propicio interes en el público y los jueces sobre cuestiones como, ¿Qué es la Biología Sintética? y ¿Cuáles son las implicaciones con la sociedad? (Bioseguridad, Bioterrorismo, patentes, crear vida artificialmente, etc).

Awarded

El poster fue premiado con el reconocimiento por parte del Jurado a uno de los mejores trabajos del XIII Congreso Científico APANAC 2010 (categoría poster).

Premiado El poster "Synthetic Biology: Bioethics Issue & Human Practices" fue premiado con el reconocimiento por parte del Jurado a uno de los mejores trabajos del XIII Congreso Científico APANAC 2010 (categoría poster).

See Poster (in Spanish)[1]

SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY PROMOTION CAMPAIGN WITHIN SOCIETY

Television documentaries about Synthetic Biology and the iGEM competition have been done as part of promotion of this knowledge to the widest sector of the population as possible. Also, we developed an advertising campaign during the National Fair of Scientific and Innovative Young People along three days. In this event we had a stand where a video about what iGEM competition is was shown and explained. Also, the cutting edge profile of this project upon the whole Panamanian society was remarked and discussed.

See Pamphlet in Spanish[2]

Human Practices Topics Resume

This are the survey results inside our Team members.

Posible risk to human kind

Inside our team all people respond that there is a true posibility of technological advances can get out of control, and can provocate dangers to environment or human kind. This incredible possibility raises concern about the regulations and legal framework around this avances.

Create Artificial Life

About this question the majority of the member of team answer that if we can create artificial life we must do it (46%).But 23% it's against create artificial life and 31% respond that it's to dificult to answer. This results inside our team show the amazing division of opinion around this topic, and invite us to make future debates and workshop about this issue.

Patent Genetic Material

Inside the members of the iGEM Panama Team 2010, this question was a great division with 42% of member that respond against patent genetic material vs 41% in favor (with 17% saying that is to dificul to answer).

Biosafety vs Bioseccurity, Not in Spanish

We as latinamerican looked that the conceptual differences between biosecurity and biosafety, it can`t be translate to spanish where both terms are translate as "bioseguridad" (without definition diferences). Definitions: Biosafety is to protect individual laboratory workers from exposure to the microorganisms they handle. By contrast, the goal of biosecurity is to “protect dangerous biological materials from inadvertent or deliberate release to the community or environment” (The Sunshine Project, 2003).

Conclusions and Discussion

The development of this project has awakened a great deal of scientific and general inquietude and questioning, as a developing country population. The principal among these can be listed as follows: • The unfinished debate about what life is, the conceptual description about natural and artificial, and the profound moral, religious and cultural implications that this kind of debate generates. • Genetic material patent management aspects. • The possibility of causing irreversible damage to ecosystems and living beings derived from some “ill–intentioned” usage of these technologies. • The necessity of having a legal structure capable of analyzing juridical matters related to these arousing, ongoing, technologies. This topic is tremendously important for all Panamanian people as a nation because not having this capability within the framework of our law, expose the community to threats and hazards obeying to the lack of appropriate regulations and protection policies. • The extraordinary emerging possibilities on the developing of drugs and environmental and public health issues mitigation and remediation that Synthetic Biology can prominently offer, maintaining the premise of having an adequate control for expected results and a supervised legal framework.

Conclusiones y Discusión

La realización de este proyecto ha despertado grandes inquietudes y preguntas como ciudadanos de un país en vías de desarrollo y como científicos como lo son:

• El no acabado debate que se presente sobre que es la vida y las concepciones sobre natural y artificial, y las profundas implicaciones morales, religiosas y culturales que este tipo de debate genera.
• El aspecto de las patentes del material genético
• La posibilidad de causar daños irreversibles en los ecosistemas y seres vivos, por parte de algún "mal intencionado" uso de estas tecnologias.
• La necesidad de un marco juridico capaz de analizar las cuestiones legales que surgen con estos nuevos desarrollos: este topico es de suma importancia para nosotros como nación ya que no contar con la capacidad de analizar estos asuntos por parte de nuestro sistema legal, expone a la comunidad a amanazas y peligros por la falta de regulación y proteccion.
• Las extraordinarias posibilidades que se abren para desarrollar medicinas y tecnologías para mitigar grandes problemas de salud publica y ambiental que el prominente campo de la Biologia Sintetica puede resolver,manteniendo la premisa de utilizala bajo un marco legal de fiscalizacion y control de sus desarrollos.

Note: In the development of this work the recent debates developed at the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues from the United States of America Government presided by Dra. Amy Gutmann (see http://www.bioethics.gov/ ) were took as a reference. In these debates, the implications and significance of the present and future advances and develop on the matters of this new emerging field, as Synthetic Biology is, are extensively discussed. Therefore, a similar approach was intended to apply in our country, bringing into the public opinion different conceptions, scientific, philosophical and technical, about this exciting and arousing field of knowledge.

Note: Este trabajo tomo como marco de referencia los actuales debates realizados en the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues Gobierno de los Estados Unidos presidida por la Dra. Amy Gutmann (see http://www.bioethics.gov/ ), donde se debate cuales son las implicaciones y significados actuales y a futuro de los avances y desarrollos del naciente campo de la biología sintética. Tratamos de hacer algo semejante en nuestro país, trayendo a la opinión pública un acercamiento sobre las concepciones tanto cientifico, filosoficas y tecnicas de las que trata la biologia sintetica.

A NOT ENDED JOURNEY

The approach to Synthetic Biology in our country is beginning, we are planning continue doing our job (Survey, interviews, forums, presentations) about build a brigde between SB and the community. We want to end saying that this was only the beginning!

GALLERY

Because to make syntethic biology is fun!