Transnational Governance of Synthetic Biology Scientific Uncertainty, Cross-Borderness and the ‘Art’ of Governance
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BIOS working paper no: 4 The Transnational Governance of Synthetic Biology Scientific uncertainty, cross-borderness and the ‘art’ of governance Joy Y. Zhang, Claire Marris and Nikolas Rose May 2011 ISSN 1759-0620 Published by BIOS (Centre for the Study of Bioscience, Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Society) London School of Economics and Political Science Houghton Street London WC2A 2AE © Zhang, Marris and Rose, 2011 BIOS wishes to encourage access to, and circulation of, our work as widely as possible without affecting the ownership of the copyright, which remains with the copyright holder. To facilitate these objectives, this work is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (by-nc-nd) 2.0 UK: England & Wales licence. Please read and consider the full licence before making use of this work. The full licence can be viewed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- nd/2.0/uk/. Within the terms of this licence, you are free to copy, distribute, display and perform the work under the following conditions: • Attribution. You must give the original authors credit, in the following format: Zhang, J.Y., Marris, C. and Rose, N. (2011) “The Transnational Governance of Synthetic Biology: Scientific uncertainty, cross-borderness and the ‘art’ of governance”. BIOS Working Paper, BIOS, London School of Economics and Political Science, London. • Non-Commercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes; • No Derivative Works. You may not alter, transform or build upon this work. In addition: • For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the licence terms of this work. • Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. • Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author's moral rights. This work was funded by the Royal Society Science Policy Centre. BIOS is an internationally recognised centre for research on social, political and economic aspects of the life sciences and biomedicine. The Centre is at the forefront of contemporary sociological debate concerning cultural change in ‘the age of biology’. BIOS conducts empirically-led, conceptually innovative research projects on a wide range of topics from the new brain sciences to stem cell research and regenerative medicine. This research is conducted in close collaboration with life scientists, clinicians, policy makers and other partners in the social sciences and the humanities. Weblinks CsynBI: www.lse.ac.uk/BIOS/CSynBI BIOS: www.lse.ac.uk/BIOS Royal Society: http://royalsociety.org/policy/ Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................. 3 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Conflicting narratives: New industrial revolution or old wine in new bottles?............................. 6 2.2 Turning the debate back onto its feet ............................................................................................ 7 3. Identifying sources of concern ............................................................................................ 8 3.1 Scientific uncertainty..................................................................................................................... 8 3.2 Cross-borderness ........................................................................................................................... 9 4. Global development of synthetic biology ......................................................................... 11 4.1 The US: A lead in the initial industrialisation of research .......................................................... 11 4.2 The UK: Building research networks.......................................................................................... 11 4.3 China: The “Big Question” approach.......................................................................................... 12 4.4 A fuller picture of the global development of synthetic biology................................................. 13 5. Key Governance Challenges.............................................................................................. 15 5.1 The salience of both knowledge and non-knowing..................................................................... 16 5.2 The cultivation of external accountability................................................................................... 17 5.3 Fragmentation of social authorities ............................................................................................. 20 5.4 Implications for international governance................................................................................... 21 6. The art of governance and governance as an art ............................................................ 23 6.1 What is the subject of artistic governance? ................................................................................. 23 6.2 What is the purpose of governance when performed as a form of art? ....................................... 24 6.3 What may be better presented? ................................................................................................... 25 6.4 What should be left to network actors to ‘improvise’? ............................................................... 25 7. Concluding words............................................................................................................... 28 References ............................................................................................................................... 30 Annex I: Reports related to the governance of synthetic biology...................................... 35 - 2 - Executive Summary Synthetic biology is a new field of research that aims to 'make biology easier to engineer'. Some claim that it could revolutionise biotechnology to deliver applications for the energy, medical and agricultural sectors. However there are concerns about potential environmental and health risks, the creation of monopolies dominated by large multinational corporations, and the ethics of creating artificial life. How should synthetic biology be best governed to maximise benefits and minimise risks? In the last seven years, some 40 reports (in the English language alone) have addressed the social, ethical and legal issues raised by synthetic biology. This Working Paper, based on an extensive literature review and fieldwork in the UK, China and Japan, BIOS proposes a radical new approach to these issues. • The paper goes beyond proposals to mitigate specific risks of synthetic biology to investigate the root causes of such concerns, and address the challenges at an overarching level. − We argue that effective governance regimes must address two central features of synthetic biology: scientific uncertainty and cross-borderness. − By uncertainty we point to the fact that many future implications of synthetic biology, like other emerging biotechnologies, are not only difficult to predict but are fundamentally unknowable. − By cross-borderness, we point both to inter-relations between geopolitical regions, and to the growing interconnectedness across academic disciplines and industrial sectors. • We argue that effective governance in the face of scientific uncertainty and cross-borderness is best framed, not as a rigid regulatory regime, but as a flexible and evolving ‘art of governance’. Effective governance seeks to foster good science, not to hamper it, but recognises that good science goes hand in hand with open, clear, transparent regulation to ensure both trust and accountability. • Such an ‘art of governance’ seeks to facilitate effective interactions between the range of current and emerging social actors involved in or affected by scientific and technological developments, to ensure that all parties have the opportunity to express their perspectives and interests at all stages in the pathways of research and development, through transparent and democratic processes. The art of governance recognises that no decisions will suit all actors, but effective compromise depends on ensuring openness and transparency in the process by which decisions are reached, demonstrating genuine consideration of all perspectives. - 3 - We highlight three crucial challenges for the effective national and international governance of synthetic biology: • FIRST, governance of science is not just a matter of governing the production and application of knowledge, but must also recognise that scientific uncertainty is not merely temporary but endemic: not merely calculable risks, but provisional unknowns, unknown unknowns, and even wilful ignorance or a conscious inability-to-know. Such 'non-knowing' cannot be overcome simply by acquiring more knowledge: increasing knowledge often leads to increasing uncertainty. Effective governance of synthetic biology must give explicit and attention to both knowledge and non-knowing. • SECOND, synthetic biology relies on collaborative contributions from distinct disciplines and professions, and this requires accountability beyond that internal to each field. While good governance of synthetic biology demands proper accountability within scientific disciplines and professional bodies, it also requires the cultivation of external accountability, not only across and between such fields, but beyond, to all those who may be affected. Such networks of accountability accommodate change