From "Experiments of Concern" to "Groups of Concern": Constructing and Containing Citizens in Synthetic Biology
From "Experiments of Concern" to "Groups of Concern": Constructing and Containing Citizens in Synthetic Biology
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DOI：
10.1177/0162243917735382
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发表时间：
2020-11-01
影响因子：
3.1
通讯作者：
Frow, Emma
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Frow, Emma
合成生物学代表了一种最近的明确尝试，使生物学更容易工程化，并通过这一尝试向更广泛的从业者（包括但不限于工程师）开放基因工程的设计空间。这一方法的支持者强调实践的标准化是成功的生物工程的关键;然而，在美国（US）和英国（UK）的合成生物学的关键问题和治理方面，正在出现有意义的跨大西洋差异。在这篇文章中，我梳理了国家的方法来管理合成生物学是如何根据不同的突出的重组DNA技术的过去的经验。在美国，合成生物学的治理一直与重组DNA技术的早期和为应对阿西洛马而开创的自我治理机制有关。在英国，转基因作物的最新经验提供了一个总体的想象，而治理倡议正在被提出。我认为，这些不同的社会技术的概念有影响的新的“关注群体”被定义在合成生物学和如何控制感知的风险正在追求在美国和英国的措施。
Synthetic biology represents a recent and explicit attempt to make biology easier to engineer, and through this to open up the design space of genetic engineering to a wider range of practitioners (including, but not limited to, engineers). Proponents of this approach emphasize the standardization of practices as key to successful biological engineering; yet, meaningful transatlantic differences are emerging with respect to the constitution of key concerns and the governance of synthetic biology in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). In this article, I tease out how national approaches to governing synthetic biology are being framed against different salient past experiences with recombinant DNA technology. In the US, the governance of synthetic biology is consistently articulated in relation to the early days of recombinant DNA technology and the self-governance mechanisms pioneered in response to Asilomar. In the UK, more recent experiences with genetically modified crops provide the overarching imaginary against which governance initiatives are being proposed. I suggest that these differing sociotechnical imaginaries have implications for how new "groups of concern" are being defined in relation to synthetic biology and how measures to contain perceived risks are being pursued in the US and Britain.