Bioethics Forum Essay
Are Arguments about GMO Safety Really About Something Else?
The scientific consensus that food containing genetically modified organisms is safe seems ever stronger, yet the social controversy about GMOs seems only to grow as well. “Unhealthy Fixation,” a long article published...Read “Are Arguments about GMO Safety Really About Something Else?”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Sacred versus Synthetic? Nature Preservationism and Biotechnology
One of the long-term contributions of Earth Day is that it offers a regular, semi-official reminder that a sense of the sacred is a vital part of environmentalism. The spirit...Read “Sacred versus Synthetic? Nature Preservationism and Biotechnology”
Bioethics Forum Essay
GM Mosquitoes: Risks and Emotions
For several years, a British company called Oxitec has been proposing a strategy for controlling a species of mosquito, Aedes aegypti, that humans have accidentally carried from Africa to other...Bioethics Forum Essay
Synthetic Biology: A Study in Reinvention
An article in the October issue of Discover Magazine has a great line from Drew Endy, a bioengineer at Stanford University who has become one of the foremost public figures in the field of...Bioethics Forum Essay
Synthetic Chromosomes
A team of scientists announced this week that it had successfully created one of the sixteen chromosomes found in yeast cells, marking a meaningful step forward in that part of...Bioethics Forum Essay
Carefully Precautionary about Synthetic Biology?
A statement released on March 13 by a collection of environmental and other organizations is the latest salvo in a global debate about how far the regulation of synthetic biology...