Emerging biotechnologies: full report - Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Emerging biotechnologies: full report - Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Emerging biotechnologies: full report - Nuffield Council on Bioethics
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E m e r g i n g b i o t e c h n o l o g i e s<br />
may be significantly different from past technologies especially where the underpinning science is<br />
novel and its limitati<strong>on</strong>s untested).<br />
6. Nevertheless, expectati<strong>on</strong>s of emerging <str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g> still tend to be informed by implicit<br />
models formed <strong>on</strong> the basis of these selective experiences. We argue that such models tend to<br />
focus (inappropriately) <strong>on</strong> the potential power of the technologies themselves rather than the<br />
circumstances of their emergence. This focus may draw attenti<strong>on</strong> away from a balanced<br />
c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong> of alternative approaches and opportunity costs, c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong>s that are of great<br />
importance at a social level. We c<strong>on</strong>clude that taking a broad view of biotechnology as a matter<br />
of social choice requires c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong> of a range of alternatives that are often absent in current<br />
technology governance. This c<strong>on</strong>clusi<strong>on</strong> informs our approach in this <str<strong>on</strong>g>report</str<strong>on</strong>g> as well as our more<br />
general advice that commitments to particular technological pathways should be evaluated<br />
not <strong>on</strong>ly in terms of their expected future impacts but also by comparis<strong>on</strong> to possible<br />
alternative pathways; this can help to illuminate obscured assumpti<strong>on</strong>s, c<strong>on</strong>straints and<br />
mechanisms of the innovati<strong>on</strong> system, and help to identify sites and opportunities for<br />
more c<strong>on</strong>structive governance, prioritisati<strong>on</strong> and c<strong>on</strong>trol.<br />
Biotechnology promises and expectati<strong>on</strong>s (Chapter 2)<br />
There is often a mismatch between our expectati<strong>on</strong>s of emerging <str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g> and our experience of biotechnology<br />
emergence. Policy and governance are nevertheless str<strong>on</strong>gly informed by expectati<strong>on</strong>s and visi<strong>on</strong>s of the future. This<br />
underlines the importance of focusing <strong>on</strong> the way in which emerging <str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g> are represented in the c<strong>on</strong>texts in<br />
which key decisi<strong>on</strong>s are made.<br />
7. The term ‘<str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g>’ covers a broad range of activities that are related through the fact that<br />
they involve the creati<strong>on</strong>, manipulati<strong>on</strong> or use of ‘biological’ comp<strong>on</strong>ents but may not otherwise<br />
share any feature in comm<strong>on</strong>. ‘A biotechnology’ may denote different kinds of thing, from broad<br />
fields of knowledge to particular products. The range of applicati<strong>on</strong>s of biotechnology is also<br />
broad (including medicine, agriculture and food producti<strong>on</strong>, envir<strong>on</strong>ment and industry) and a<br />
single ‘biotechnology’ may cut across many of these.<br />
8. We briefly survey the recent history of biotechnology research in some key areas. These include:<br />
■ cellular <str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g> and regenerative medicine, for example: stem cells for transplant and<br />
disease modelling;<br />
■ genetic engineering, for example: modificati<strong>on</strong> of agricultural crops and transgenic animals for<br />
‘pharming’ and xenotransplantati<strong>on</strong>;<br />
■ pharmaceutical biotechnology, for example: recombinant proteins (such as biosynthetic<br />
insulin) and m<strong>on</strong>ocl<strong>on</strong>al antibodies (such as trastuzumab (‘Herceptin’®) used to treat breast<br />
cancer), as well as RNA interference to regulate gene expressi<strong>on</strong>;<br />
■ pers<strong>on</strong>alised medicine, for example: pharmacogenomics and the c<strong>on</strong>vergence of medicine<br />
with informati<strong>on</strong> and communicati<strong>on</strong>s technology (ICT) applicati<strong>on</strong>s;<br />
■ synthetic biology, for example: parts-based approaches, metabolic pathway engineering,<br />
minimal genome and protocell research, and xenobiology; and<br />
■ biological applicati<strong>on</strong>s of nanotechnology, for example: biological machines, molecular motors,<br />
drug delivery devices and biosensors.<br />
9. We note that emerging <str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g> are promissory by nature and that ambiti<strong>on</strong> and<br />
expectati<strong>on</strong>s play an important role in securing the material c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s (including funding) that<br />
enable advances to be made. Analogies with other technological forms, for example informati<strong>on</strong><br />
and communicati<strong>on</strong>s technology, provide a powerful template for imagining the future<br />
development of emerging <str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g>, not least because of c<strong>on</strong>vergence between biology<br />
and ICT in interdisciplinary fields such as systems biology. Their familiarity can help to inform<br />
n<strong>on</strong>-specialist understanding of new and complex technical fields.<br />
10. However, many technologies fail to fulfil their initial promise (either due to encountering a ‘hard<br />
c<strong>on</strong>straint’ or being ‘crowded out’ by an alternative technology); they may remain ‘submerged’ for<br />
l<strong>on</strong>g or indefinite periods, or find wholly different applicati<strong>on</strong>s from those originally envisaged. Of<br />
course, there are also genuinely transformative technologies that may exceed expectati<strong>on</strong>s or<br />
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