Gene breakthrough must be controlled

FEW in the field of bioscience can fail to be excited by news that genetics entrepreneur Dr Craig Venter has created a "synthetic cell", breathing life into a bacterium using genes assembled in the laboratory. The "rebooting" of a single microbe by transplanting it into a set of genetic code sequences could see the acceleration of the development of artificial life with potentially many benefits for humankind – and as many drawbacks.

The hazards here are colossal and response to this breakthrough needs to be tempered on three specific grounds. The first is the danger of research multiplication, with untold consequences once the first pioneers have broken through. How is the spread of this knowledge to be policed? The second is the potential for this highly sensitive area of bioscience to be abused. For every step towards the creation of human genes comes the ability to engineer – and not necessarily for the benefit of mankind.

And the third is that this is a further step into an area where unknowable consequences could have potentially devastating results. Bioscientists may find it easy to mock popular fears over the creation of some form of Frankenstein monster. But they have no way of assuring the lay public as to their results. "Synthetic" does not in any way guarantee "better", still less "safe".