Synthetic Biology Scorecard finds federal agencies responding to bioethics report
Some progress being made
2012-07-17
(Press-News.org) WASHINGTON – Federal agencies have started taking steps to address the recommendations in a 2010 report from the presidential bioethics commission to improve the governance of synthetic biology research and development, though the government has not fully addressed any of the report recommendations, according to a scorecard tracking the efforts.
The Synthetic Biology Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars launched the web-based Synthetic Biology Scorecard in February to track federal and non-federal efforts to implement the recommendations in New Directions: The Ethics of Synthetic Biology and Emerging Technologies, a December 2010 report from the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. The recommendations seek to minimize risks from the technology while ensuring that social and economic benefits are realized.
Eighteen months after the release of the report, information collected by the Project and submitted by users finds that steps have been taken by the U.S. government over the past four months to continue addressing the report recommendations. These measures include a new White House-led interagency working group looking at government work on the issue; a recent six-party meeting at the National Academy of Sciences (the last in a series of three meetings between the United States, United Kingdom and China); and the development and release of the National Bioeconomy Blueprint.
Still, the Scorecard finds that none of the recommendations have been fully addressed, including six recommendations that called for federal action within 18 months, or by mid-June 2012. Of the six recommendations calling for action within 18 months, five of the recommendations saw some level of government activity.
Of the 17 recommendations tracked by the Scorecard, 13 had some level of federal activity and four had no activity, including a recommendation calling for risk assessments before research organisms or commercial products involving the technology are released into the environment and a recommendation calling for the identification of reliable containment and control mechanisms.
President Obama requested the Commission's report more than two years ago in response to important advancements in the field of synthetic biology. On May 20, 2010, scientists at the J.C. Venter Institute unveiled a bacterial cell controlled by a synthetic genome. The same day, the president asked the Commission to study "the implications of this scientific milestone . . . [and] consider the potential medical, environmental, security, and other benefits of this field of research, as well as any potential health, security, or other risks."
The Scorecard has new features to improve usability. People are encouraged to submit work by agencies, organizations, states and others that fulfill the Commission recommendations. The Project plans to continue to highlight the progress towards implementing the recommendations.
INFORMATION:
The Scorecard can be found here: http://www.synbioproject.org/scorecards/recommendations/
The Synthetic Biology Project is an initiative of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Project aims to foster informed public and policy discourse concerning the advancement of synthetic biology.
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is the national, living memorial honoring President Woodrow Wilson. The Wilson Center provides a strictly nonpartisan space for the worlds of policymaking and scholarship to interact. By conducting relevant and timely research and promoting dialogue from all perspectives, it works to address the critical current and emerging challenges confronting the United States and the world. Created by an Act of Congress in 1968, The Wilson Center is a non-partisan institution headquartered in Washington, D.C. and supported by both public and private funds.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2012-07-17
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Clogged printer nozzles waste time and money while reducing print quality. University of Missouri engineers recently invented a clog-preventing nozzle cover by mimicking the human eye.
"The nozzle cover we invented was inspired by the human eye," said Jae Wan Kwon, associate professor in the College of Engineering. "The eye and an ink jet nozzle have a common problem: they must not be allowed to dry while, simultaneously, they must open. We used biomimicry, the imitation of nature, to solve human problems."
Kwon's invention uses a droplet of silicone ...
2012-07-17
A rare type of cancer thought to derive from cells in the bile ducts of the liver may actually develop when one type of liver cell morphs into a totally different type, a process scientists used to consider all but impossible. UCSF researchers triggered this kind of cellular transformation—and caused tumors to form in mice—by activating just two genes. Their discovery suggests that drugs that are able to target those genes may provide a way to treat the deadly cancer, known as cholangiocarcinoma. It also shows, yet again, how the process of scientific discovery involves ...
2012-07-17
VIDEO:
This brief video shows a cell division within a tissue and the mechanical forces clearly at play in the cell's placement in the tissue.
Click here for more information.
If you place certain types of living cells on a microscope slide, the cells will inch across the glass, find their neighbors, and assemble themselves into a simple, if primitive tissue. A new study at Stanford University may help explain this phenomenon, and then some, about the mechanical structure ...
2012-07-17
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), a tear of the layers of the artery wall that can block normal blood flow into and around the heart, is a relatively rare and poorly understood condition. It often strikes young, otherwise healthy people -- mostly women -- and can lead to significant heart damage, even sudden death. Now, in the first study of its kind of such patients, Mayo Clinic researchers have started to uncover important clues about SCAD, including its potential risk factors, optimal treatment approaches and short- and long-term cardiovascular ...
2012-07-17
Baltimore, Md., July 16, 2012 – U.S. Army researchers made a surprising discovery while examining the impact of an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear (a common knee injury), on four serum biomarkers associated with cartilage health. The researchers found that pre-injury concentrations for all but one of the four serum biomarkers studied were associated with the subsequent likelihood of ACL injury. The findings were presented Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM).
"We expected to see post-injury differences in ...
2012-07-17
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The recommended dietary allowance, or RDA, of vitamin C is less than half what it should be, scientists argue in a recent report, because medical experts insist on evaluating this natural, but critical nutrient in the same way they do pharmaceutical drugs and reach faulty conclusions as a result.
The researchers, in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, say there's compelling evidence that the RDA of vitamin C should be raised to 200 milligrams per day for adults, up from its current levels in the United States of 75 milligrams for women and ...
2012-07-17
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Rhode Island Hospital researcher has found that emergency department patients prefer technology-based interventions for high-risk behaviors such as alcohol use, unsafe sex and violence. ER patients said they would choose technology (ie text messaging, email, or Internet) over traditional intervention methods such as in-person or brochure-based behavioral interventions. The paper by Megan L. Ranney, M.D., is available now online in advance of print in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
The study was a cross-sectional survey of urban emergency department ...
2012-07-17
An uncommon mutation of the BRAF gene in melanoma patients has been found to respond to MEK inhibitor drugs, providing a rationale for routine screening and therapy in melanoma patients who harbor the BRAF L597 mutation.
The new study by co-first-authors Kimberly Brown Dahlman, Ph.D., Junfeng Xia, Ph.D., and Katherine Hutchinson, B.S., Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Nashville, Tenn., was published online July 14 in Cancer Discovery. The research was led by co-senior authors William Pao, M.D., Ph.D., Jeffrey Sosman, M.D., and Zhongming Zhao, Ph.D., VICC, and ...
2012-07-17
SAN ANTONIO (July 16, 2012) — A novel technique for measuring tiny, rapid-fire secretions in the brains and mouthparts of fruit flies (drosophila) is providing insights into the beneficial effects of eating less — information that ultimately could help people suffering from neuromuscular disorders.
Using the method, researchers uncovered never-before-seen brain chemistry that helps explain why fruit flies genetically manipulated to mimic conditions such as Parkinson's disease and myasthenia gravis are more vigorous and live longer when fed a restricted diet.
Published ...
2012-07-17
COLUMBIA, Mo. — A team of University of Missouri researchers has found that introducing a missing gene into the central nervous system could help extend the lives of patients with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) – the leading genetic cause of infantile death in the world.
SMA is a rare genetic disease that is inherited by one in 6,000 children who often die young because there is no cure. Children who inherit SMA are missing a gene that produces a protein which directs nerves in the spine to give commands to muscles.
The MU team, led by Christian Lorson, professor in ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Synthetic Biology Scorecard finds federal agencies responding to bioethics report
Some progress being made
