ter Meulen Ruud, Calladine Alex
University of Bristol, Centre for Ethics in Medicine, United Kingdom.
Rev Derecho Genoma Hum. 2010 Jan-Jun(32):119-41.
The emerging field of synthetic biology aims to move beyond our current state of being able to read and manipulate genetic code to being able to write it. Drawing on the other disciplines such as engineering it will allow scientists to create new artificial biological systems as well as modify and redesign systems which already exist in nature. This is likely to result in a range of new and innovative applications. This essay has three aims. First, it provides a brief introduction to synthetic biology, explains what it is, some of the ways in which it has been defined and some of its possible future applications. Second, the essay considers some of the ethical questions which synthetic biology may raise. Finally, the essay reflects on how we ought to answer these sorts of questions and suggests a more reflective, philosophical approach.
合成生物学这一新兴领域旨在超越我们目前能够读取和操纵遗传密码的状态，进而能够编写遗传密码。借助工程学等其他学科，它将使科学家能够创建新的人工生物系统，以及修改和重新设计自然界中已有的系统。这可能会带来一系列新的创新应用。本文有三个目标。首先，简要介绍合成生物学，解释其是什么、一些被定义的方式以及一些可能的未来应用。其次，本文思考合成生物学可能引发的一些伦理问题。最后，本文思考我们应该如何回答这类问题，并建议采用一种更具反思性的哲学方法。
