New Ethical Frameworks for Synbio in the Indo-Pacific

We’re very pleased to launch a new Ethical Frameworks for Deployment of Synthetic Biology in the Indo-Pacific.

The framework is developed by GSEJ member Dr. Shambhavi Naik and her colleague Saurabh Todi at the InKlude Labs India, in collaboration with Dr. Dirk van der Kley, Dr. Henry Dixson and Daniel Pavlich at the Australian National University.

At the moment, SynBio ethics are governed by a patchwork of international agreements, laws and regulations. In particular, perspectives from the Indo-Pacific countries, which host at least 50% of humanity, are underrepresented in global discussions of SynBio ethics.

GSEJ is pleased to be part of the initiative that fills this critical gap. In addition to highlighting practical concerns and constraints for this region, this new framework also introduces three innovative decision matrixes to help practitioners in the Indo-Pacific to structure and streamline their ethical examinations.

A key aim of this project is to invite further the efforts and dialogues on this topic in this region. Thus, the authors of this framework will host a series of online workshops between 22 – 27 August to invite discussion and collect public feedback.

Details will be published in due course. In the meantime, if you are interested in taking part, please get in touch: gsej@kent.ac.uk