© HARRY CAMPBELLAs the do-it-yourself biology (DIYbio) community has grown, so too have the concerns about the potential dangers and reach of the DIYbio movement—in particular with regard to synthetic biology. A sampling of headlines in major newspapers and magazines over the past year include: “Amateurs Are New Fear in Creating Mutant Virus,” “D.I.Y. Biology, on the Wings of the Mockingjay,” and “Hacking the President’s DNA.” But much of this alarm is overblown, as critics overestimate the current abilities of the DIYbio movement and underestimate the ethics of its participants, who can range from PhD-trained scientists to the true amateur who has little professional training.
Furthermore, while concerned parties call for government oversight, the DIYbio community has already proven to be proactive in addressing biosafety and biosecurity concerns. In December 2011, Genspace, the first community laboratory to open in the United States, recruited an external advisory board of distinguished academic, government, and industry professionals to answer safety-related questions. The board also reviews the appropriateness of certain projects requiring a Biosafety Level 1 environment, ensures adherence to National Institutes of Health (NIH) recombinant DNA guidelines, and helps minimize the use of potentially hazardous reagents. For the larger DIYbio community, DIYbio.org and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars launched the “Ask a Biosafety Expert” web portal, which allows anyone to submit biosafety- and biosecurity-related questions to a panel of biosafety professionals ...
