[DIYbio] Re: Biosecurity

Or George Church printing a coded copy of his book on a tiny piece of paper using DNA. When Stephen Colbert tried to eat the paper, Dr. Church grabbed it from him.

Yes, awareness is as critical as following safety protocols. That is why I am reaching out to the DIYbio community - to check on this level of awareness. Based on the few responses I have received so far, it seems there is a sentiment that the "Pros" are doing way worse stuff than us, so we don't have to worry about it. Perhaps if the DIYbio community took the lead on communicating about safety of their own work, the general public might start to learn about risks associated with biotechnology. I have found, after 17 years of trying, that professionals using recombinant nucleic acids are not open to talking about this risk perspective anymore. They had that conversation, somewhat publicly, in the 1970s. Why bring attention to something a second time that might make the public nervous and only hurt research progress and biotech profits?

If the main purpose of DIYbio is to bring biotech to the masses and make it accessible to all, isn't public safety a good place to start?

Scientists by nature focus on speaking about what they have learned based on data and observations. That is another reason trying to talk scientifically about the risks of recombinant nucleic acids is problematic. The focus tends to be on human pathogens and related gene sequences that we know of. The danger with following this line of thinking ONLY is that we can miss plausible threats that are right under our nose that we are not even contemplating might be risky. It's a bit like some toddlers found dad's gun in the closet and are playing with it without anyone watching them. I would apply this analogy to both the Pros and the DIYs.

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