From Asilomar to industrial biotechnology: risks, reductionism and regulation

Governing biotechnology to provide safety and security and address ethical, legal, and social implications

The field of biotechnology has produced a wide variety of materials and products which are rapidly entering the commercial marketplace. While many developments promise revolutionary benefits, some of them pose uncertain or largely untested risks and may spur debate, consternation, and outrage from individuals and groups who may be affected by their development and use. In this paper we show that the success of any advanced genetic development and usage requires that the creators establish technical soundness, ensure safety and security, and transparently represent the product's ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI). We further identify how failures to address ELSI can manifest as significant roadblocks to product acceptance and adoption and advocate for use of the "safety-by-design" governance philosophy. This approach requires addressing risk and ELSI needs early and often in the technology development process to support innovation while providing security and safety for workers, the public, and the broader environment. This paper identifies and evaluates major ELSI challenges and perspectives to suggest a methodology for implementing safety-by-design in a manner consistent with local institutions and politics. We anticipate the need for safety-by-design approach to grow and permeate biotechnology governance structures as the field expands in scientific and technological complexity, increases in public attention and prominence, and further impacts human health and the environment.

The attachments of 'autonomous' vehicles

The ideal of the self-driving car replaces an error-prone human with an infallible, artificially intelligent driver. This narrative of autonomy promises liberation from the downsides of automobility, even if that means taking control away from autonomous, free-moving individuals. We look behind this narrative to understand the attachments that so-called 'autonomous' vehicles (AVs) are likely to have to the world. Drawing on 50 interviews with AV developers, researchers and other stakeholders, we explore the social and technological attachments that stakeholders see inside the vehicle, on the road and with the wider world. These range from software and hardware to the behaviours of other road users and the material, social and economic infrastructure that supports driving and self-driving. We describe how innovators understand, engage with or seek to escape from these attachments in three categories: 'brute force', which sees attachments as problems to be solved with more data, 'solve the world one place at a time', which sees attachments as limits on the technology's reach and 'reduce the complexity of the space', which sees attachments as solutions to the problems encountered by technology developers. Understanding attachments provides a powerful way to anticipate various possible constitutions for the technology.

How to produce 'marketable and profitable results for the company': from viral interference to Roferon A

This paper looks at the commodification of interferon, marketed by Hoffmann La Roche (short: Roche) as Roferon A in 1986, as a case study that helps us understand the role of pharmaceutical industry in cancer research, the impact of molecular biology on cancer therapy, and the relationships between biotech start-ups and established pharmaceutical firms. Drawing extensively on materials from the Roche company archives, the paper traces interferon's trajectory from observed phenomenon (viral interference) to product (Roferon A). Roche embraced molecular biology in the late 1960s to prepare for the moment when the patents on some of its bestselling drugs were going to expire. The company funded two basic science institutes to gain direct access to talents and scientific leads. These investments, I argue, were crucial for Roche's success with recombinant interferon, along with more mundane, technical and regulatory know-how held at Roche's Nutley base. The paper analyses in some detail the development process following the initial success of cloning the interferon gene in collaboration with Genentech. It looks at the factors necessary to scale up the production sufficiently for clinical trials. Using Alfred Chandler's concept of 'organizational capabilities', I argue that the process is better described as 'mobilisation' than as 'translation'.

Public attitudes to the promotion of genomic crop studies in Japan: correlations between genomic literacy, trust, and favourable attitude

This study aimed to assess public attitudes in Japan to the promotion of genomic selection in crop studies and to examine associated factors. We analysed data from a nationwide opinion survey. A total of 4,000 people were selected from the Japanese general population by a stratified two-phase sampling method, and 2,171 people participated by post; this survey asked about the pros and cons of crop-related genomic studies promotion, examined people's scientific literacy in genomics, and investigated factors thought to be related to genomic literacy and attitude. The relationships were examined using logistic regression models stratified by gender. Survey results showed that 50.0% of respondents approved of the promotion of crop-related genomic studies, while 6.7% disapproved. No correlation was found between literacy and attitude towards promotion. Trust in experts, belief in science, an interest in genomic studies and willingness to purchase new products correlated with a positive attitude towards crop-related genomic studies.

Pharmaceutical prospects: biopharming and the geography of technological expectations

The paper explores the role of imagined geographies in the shaping of new technologies. I argue that the role of place in future-oriented visions of technoscience is a neglected topic in studies of the social shaping of technology. The paper proposes an approach that combines the sociology of expectations with the geography of science. It focuses on the interplay between envisaged and current geographies to highlight the recursive dynamics of place and imagination. To illustrate this approach, the paper discusses the example of biopharming, the production of biopharmaceuticals using genetically modified crops. I argue that expectations for biopharming bear the imprint of place, or rather of the places in which they are imagined, as well as those they imagine, and ultimately those they produce. I use this example to suggest how social studies of science and technology can usefully investigate the spaces, places and scales of technological development.

O conceito de biossegurança à luz da ciência pós-normal: avanços e perspectivas para a saúde coletiva

Trata-se de um estudo de natureza teórico-conceitual, que analisa as limitações do conceito de biossegurança à luz da ciência pós-normal, buscando contribuir para o debate sobre as controvérsias associadas à biossegurança. Parte do pressuposto que a noção de biossegurança, ao basear-se em uma abordagem eminentemente tecnicista do risco, não responde de maneira satisfatória às questões que se apresentam. Sendo o principal propósito da biossegurança proteger a saúde e o meio ambiente, torna-se necessária uma mudança da perspectiva reducionista da ciência tradicional, na qual a noção de biossegurança foi concebida. Essa mudança deve ocorrer dentro de uma abordagem ampla, que destaque as noções de incerteza, complexidade e qualidade, assim como considerar a pluralidade de atores e interesses envolvidos nos complexos problemas ambientais e de saúde. Conclui-se que conceber a noção de biossegurança à luz da ciência pós-normal implica uma modificação fundamental, principalmente em relação à saúde coletiva: a substituição do discurso tecnicista onipotente por um diálogo entre os diversos atores sociais envolvidos nas questões ambientais e de saúde.

Patho-biotechnology; using bad bugs to make good bugs better

Given the increasing commercial and clinical relevance of probiotic cultures, improving their stress tolerance profile and ability to overcome the physiochemical defences of the host is an important biological goal. Pathogenic bacteria have evolved sophisticated strategies to overcome host defences, interact with the immune system and interfere with essential host systems. We coin the term 'patho-biotechnology' to describe the exploitation of these valuable traits in biotechnology and biomedicine. This approach shows promise for the design of more technologically robust and effective probiotic cultures with improved biotechnological and clinical applications as well as the development of novel vaccine and drug delivery platforms.