Synthetic Biology

[zengrifter]

Synthetic Biology: Creating New Life Forms
by Rearranging DNA

by Bill Sardi

by Bill Sardi

In the Brave New World of uncharted biology, does everything go? Where will biologists stop in their directionless frenzy to acquire basic scientific knowledge?

The latest fad among biologists is called synthetic biology. The small group that calls themselves synthetic biologists are already squirming at the thought of regulation, fearing limits will hinder their efforts to reach as yet undefined goals. The whole idea of synthetic biology is to improve upon nature, but there is a lot of gibberish coming from the mouths of these biologists that makes the most avid science buff begin to question what is going on.

Synthetic biologists claim they intend to create bioengineered organisms that can "produce pharmaceuticals, detect toxic chemicals, break down pollutants, repair defective genes, destroy cancer cells." [The New Atlantis, Spring, 2006] These are laudable objectives. But there is a dark side to the direction they are taking.

...more - http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi55.html

[zengrifter]

Synthetic DNA on the Brink of Yielding New Life Forms


By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 17, 2007


It has been 50 years since scientists first created DNA in a test tube, stitching ordinary chemical ingredients together to make life's most extraordinary molecule. Until recently, however, even the most sophisticated laboratories could make only small snippets of DNA -- an extra gene or two to be inserted into corn plants, for example, to help the plants ward off insects or tolerate drought.

Now researchers are poised to cross a dramatic barrier: the creation of life forms driven by completely artificial DNA.

MORE- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...601900_pf.html