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
• 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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