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From 2010.igem.org

Public Discussion

Public Relation is one of the keynotes of the iGEM competition. The goal is to access science to the public.

Public articles

In order to get more people in touch with the competition, we created the first german Wikipedia article. We appreciate all the slight corrections done by all the unknown wikipedia reviewers.

• We created the first german iGEM wikipedia article

[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/IGEM iGEM Wiki Article]

Public Events

Access scientific issues to the public is one of our main keynotes during the project. Hence we did a public discussion concerning synthetic biology. For this porpuse we presented our project after a brief introdaction of synthetic biology given by [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P%C3%BChler Prof. Alfred Pühler], one of the german pioneers of genetics. After the talks there were a open discussion hosted by the chief of editorial of the local radio broadcaster "radio bielefeld". Additionally to the talks, we arranged an info point with laboratory stuff like pipettes, tipes, gloves and shaking flaks. We presented a poster about our project, in order to adress more information to the auditorium. People should get an inside look on our work and the practical lab work. We observed that most of the people preferably asked their question in a personal discussion with the iGEM Team members at the info point. We tried to feed information and positive examples of synthetic biology to the people, in order to rearrange their image of synthetic biology and genetics. This is quite important, becaus:

Quote of Michael Spector (iGEM security page)

"It is a debate about words, about metaphors - it is ideology, it is not science... It is law, it is morality, it is patent stuff. Science in not a company. It is not a country. It is not even an idea. It is a process; some times it works and some times it does not. The idea we should not allow science to do it's job, because we are afraid, is really deadening and it is preventing millions of people from prospering."

Michael Spector describes the impressions people often think about in the context of genetics and biology. Moreover he mentioned a very important attribute of science. Science is not political! Unfurtunatelly science gets political involved in the moment, it discoveres improvements of everyday life or solves problems of mankind. Therefore the political aspect has to be discussed. So, frequently asked questions out of the auditorium concerning all biological, political and safety topics. Most people still fear hidden risks, especially in genetics:

• Can I control everything i am able to do in the lab?
• Is it possible for the bacteria to get out the lab?
• What is the differnce between synthetic bioligy and genetics?
• How do I work on a molecular level? What kind of tools are used for cutting and pasting DNA?
• Do I really need a test on spiciness?
• Can science be more than just a bridge for problems? Do starving people in foreign countries really get the improvements of green biotechnology or is there only a compony profit?

People recognized that we are aware of possible safety and ethic issues. We pointed out that we modificated an already as security stage 1 categorized organism. So we are able of the hazard potential of final molecular product. People get that we do not build a risky bacteria by choice. Further they noted that building DNA devices out of Biobricks is a lot of experimental work. Some people tried to lead the conversation on political topics. The connection between the potential of genetics and synthethic biology and politics is quite obvious. The research might invend something that might help other people around the world. Therefore it has to be discussed in a global context, how these inventions can be used by anybody. It was really exciting for us to get to know the publics opinion on safety, ethics and biological issues. We discussed a long time after the talks with different person of different social groups.

• 26.10.2010
• Bielefeld, Ratscafé Kaffee Kunst

weblinks:

[http://www.bielefeld.de/de/kf/veranstaltungen/kalender/detailanzeigen.html?id=2010-01-12-11.05.45.727686 Science café advertisment]

[http://www.bio-owl.de/php/start.php Advertisment on Bio OWL (14.10.2010)]