Melin Anders
Malmo University, Malmo, Sweden.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2021 Dec 15;9:703735. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.703735. eCollection 2021.
Synthetic biology has many valuable applications, but it also gives rise to certain risks. In this paper I discuss the risk of bioterrorism, which often attracts attention in both the mass media and scientific debate, as well as in government reports. While some authors argue that there is a significant risk of bioterrorism connected to synthetic biology, other scholars claim that the risk is exaggerated and that actors often have motives for overstating the risk. In this paper, I argue that some estimates of the risk may be overstated but that certain risks of bioterrorism, such as the creation and spread of known pathogenic viruses, need to be taken seriously. Actors may also have scientific and financial motives for understating the risk. Such understatements are sometimes based on a principle of hope, which says that technological progress is important for the future welfare of humanity and that too much precaution would have bad consequences. I argue that this principle is problematic as the burdens and benefits of synthetic biology may not be equally divided between different social groups. Instead, I claim that the principle of precaution is more justified as a point of departure for assessing advancements within synthetic biology. It tells us that we need strong evidence that such advancements are safe, because there is a potential risk that they may make it easier for terrorist groups to create and spread known pathogenic viruses.
合成生物学有许多有价值的应用，但它也会引发某些风险。在本文中，我将讨论生物恐怖主义的风险，这一风险在大众媒体、科学辩论以及政府报告中常常受到关注。虽然一些作者认为与合成生物学相关的生物恐怖主义存在重大风险，但其他学者则声称这种风险被夸大了，而且相关行为者往往有夸大风险的动机。在本文中，我认为对某些风险的估计可能被夸大了，但生物恐怖主义的某些风险，比如已知致病病毒的制造和传播，需要得到认真对待。行为者也可能有淡化风险的科学和经济动机。这种淡化有时基于一种希望原则，该原则认为技术进步对人类未来福祉很重要，而过度防范会产生不良后果。我认为这一原则存在问题，因为合成生物学的负担和益处可能不会在不同社会群体之间平均分配。相反，我认为预防原则作为评估合成生物学进展的出发点更有道理。它告诉我们，我们需要有力证据证明此类进展是安全的，因为存在一种潜在风险，即它们可能会使恐怖组织更容易制造和传播已知致病病毒。
