1 / 12

Ethics in Synthetic Biology in India

Ethics in Synthetic Biology in India. Krishna Ravi Srinivas RIS, New Delhi krsriniv@gmail.com ravisrinivas@ris.org.in. The Dilemma for a developing country like India in SynBio. Should not miss the bus But should not invest heavily in R&D when there are many uncertainties

jagger
Download Presentation

Ethics in Synthetic Biology in India

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Ethics in Synthetic Biology in India Krishna Ravi Srinivas RIS, New Delhi krsriniv@gmail.comravisrinivas@ris.org.in

  2. The Dilemma for a developing country like India in SynBio • Should not miss the bus • But should not invest heavily in R&D when there are many uncertainties • Cannot afford not to develop some capacity • Need for a cautious pragmatic optimistic approach on SynBio and link it with current plans and objectives • Don’t ignore, don’t invest heavily, build capacity, do Technology Assessment and wait and watch

  3. Mission Mode in India • Technology Missions- Nanotechnology, Solar Energy • Massive funding by federal government through various departments with one as nodal department e.g. DST for nanotechnology • Capacity building and human resource development • Involving private sector and support R&D in them through various schemes • Support basic and applied research- set up centers, groups in institutions, new institutions • Priority is assessed in five year plans and it is integrated in the annual plans but scope for funding new programs is there • At present there is no mission on SynBio

  4. SynBio in India • There are institutes that have capacity and do some work- not explicitly naming as SynBio • Private sector minimal except some start ups • Current research is more on biofuels than on health or other applications • No national mission/scheme on SynBio but no regulation either • So it is in preliminary stage • Issue of definition

  5. SynBio-Hope and Hype • Our conversations with scientists (not many) revealed that there is skepticism, definitional issues and lack of any interest group to promote it • SynBio is there but more importance and expectations from nano as of now than synbio • No debate on synbio, debate on nano is minimal and hence synbio is largely unknown or regarded as yet another fancy term

  6. List of institutions • NCBS Bangalore • Indian Institute of Science Bangalore • IITs and various universities e.g. Centre for Systems and Synthetic Biology, Kerala University, Trivandrum • CSIR labs- core competencies • http://csirhrdg.res.in/sranew.htm • http://www.immindia.org/chemical_syntheticbiology.htm • http://www.icgeb.org/yazdani-shams-lab.html • Indian participation in IGEM increasing, Biodesign 1.0 http://www.biodesignindia.org/openquestions.html

  7. What India can do • Assess potential of SynBio independent of hype and assess capacity in India • Identify priorities for research in SynBio in different sectors and develop capacity • Increase funding through departments and schemes and link this with global programs on synbio Think in terms of North-South-South alliance and more private sector-public sector partnerships • Identify priorities and match with capacities • Go for a mission mode and integrate current funding with this • But all this may not happen in the immediate future because there is no interest group • Private sector start ups and CROs may get involved more in health related synbio work while biofuels related research might be supported more

  8. Equity, Inclusion and Access • In view of limited number of projects it is difficult to assess their impact in terms of equity, inclusion and access • As there is no precise definition it is difficult categorize projects in terms of sectors

  9. Debate elsewhere and India • Although SynBio’s ethical implications have been debated elsewhere they have not had impact in India as SynBio is in infancy • Need for a debate might arise if there is a conscious effort to develop one • If so what frameworks/approaches should be used • Is there any universal synbio ethics

  10. Will India miss the bus in SynBio • Not likely because India is more integrated with global science than ever before • Government sensitive to emerging areas/frontiers in science • Indifference among public->less resistance • Pressure group may emerge from Indian technocrats abroad, academics and science academies and industry • So unless a roadmap for SynBio, is prepared and debated SynBio may not get priority • Need convincing answers to the question how SynBio can contribute to meeting India’s needs in different sectors • For example can synbio really make a difference in terms of diagnostics, vaccines and drugs that are effective and cheap • If that can be convincingly argued SynBio in Health may get more attention • So current outlook is uncertain but that does not mean that India will ignore SynBio in the long run

  11. Conclusion • At present there is very limited activity in synbio and capacity exists • Priority now is synbio applications in biofuels • Almost absence of debates on ethics • Position may change in future • Equity, Access and Inclusion dimensions not clear at this • Absence of TA of synbio and identification of priorities makes it difficult to predict the future of synbio • But India will not miss synbio bus

  12. Conclusion • There is no debate in ethical issues per se • In future there can be debates depending upon the project and application • So possibility of pro-active TA and identifying ethical issues is possible

More Related