Ethical and regulatory challenges raised by synthetic biology

Objective

SYNTH-ETHICS addresses the ethical, legal and social implications of the emerging field of synthetic biology, with a special focus on biosafety and biosecurity and on notions of life. The project starts with discerning relevant ethical issues in close collaboration with the synthetic biology community. Next, the public debates around these issues are analysed. The current ethical and regulative frameworks existing in synthetic biology and closely related fields like nanobiotechnology and genetic engineering will then be reconstructed and assessed for their ability to deal adequately with existing and newly emerging ethical issues in synthetic biology. On that basis, challenges for current regulatory and ethical frameworks will be identified and recommendations for dealing with these challenges will be formulated targeted at three relevant groups: 1) the synthetic biology community, 2) EU policy makers and 3) NGOs/the public The project is at the intersection of ethics, technology assessment and foresight, law, and new technologies, and expertise from all relevant fields is included in the project team. The project will build on insights and discussions from other fields such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. It will also try to assess which aspects of synthetic biology might give rise to ethical problems of a different nature, specific to the field. In turn, it will contribute significantly to a more adequate and proactive broadly applicable approach to the ethical aspects of new technology. It will contribute to a common understanding of synthetic biology and the ethical, legal and social issues involved in EU member states, and to the shaping of a distinct European approach without ignoring the discussions and developments in the US and elsewhere. Stakeholders’ views will be solicited during the project and will be taken into account, and the project will help to prepare for a rational and informed public dialogue on synthetic biology. Finally, the project p

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• social sciences political sciences political policies civil society civil society organisations nongovernmental organizations
• natural sciences biological sciences synthetic biology
• medical and health sciences medical biotechnology genetic engineering
• social sciences sociology social issues
• social sciences law

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

• dual use
• ethics
• human nature
• nanotechnology
• normative frameworks
• safety
• security
• synthetic biology

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-SIS - Specific Programme "Capacities": Science in society

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• SiS-2008-1.1.2.1 - Ethics and new and emerging fields of science and technology

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-SCIENCE-IN-SOCIETY-2008-1
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

CP - Collaborative project (generic)

Coordinator

Participants (4)