Synthetic biology ethics issues include two key concerns.

Synthetic biology ethics issues include two key concerns.

• A. Privacy and consent
• B. Safety and cost
• C. Autonomy and potential harm
• D. Justice and beneficence

Answer: (C)

Two central concerns in synthetic biology ethics are autonomy and potential harm. Autonomy emphasizes respecting people’s and communities’ rights to make informed decisions about how synthetic biology is used, who bears the risks, and how data and results are shared. This includes ensuring informed consent where individuals are directly affected and engaging communities in decisions about environmental releases, public health implications, and governance. Potential harm focuses on the real risks associated with powerful biotechnologies—unintended ecological impacts, safety hazards in laboratories, and dual-use risks where advances could be misused to cause harm. Because synthetic biology can enable substantial capability shifts, safeguarding against both intentional misuse and unforeseen consequences is a core ethical priority. Privacy and consent can matter in related contexts like data handling or human subjects research, and safety is part of the broader harm concern. However, autonomy and potential harm best capture the two primary ethical anchors guiding policy, oversight, and responsible innovation in synthetic biology. Justice and beneficence are important as well, but they complement rather than define these two main concerns.

Two central concerns in synthetic biology ethics are autonomy and potential harm. Autonomy emphasizes respecting people’s and communities’ rights to make informed decisions about how synthetic biology is used, who bears the risks, and how data and results are shared. This includes ensuring informed consent where individuals are directly affected and engaging communities in decisions about environmental releases, public health implications, and governance.

Potential harm focuses on the real risks associated with powerful biotechnologies—unintended ecological impacts, safety hazards in laboratories, and dual-use risks where advances could be misused to cause harm. Because synthetic biology can enable substantial capability shifts, safeguarding against both intentional misuse and unforeseen consequences is a core ethical priority.

Privacy and consent can matter in related contexts like data handling or human subjects research, and safety is part of the broader harm concern. However, autonomy and potential harm best capture the two primary ethical anchors guiding policy, oversight, and responsible innovation in synthetic biology. Justice and beneficence are important as well, but they complement rather than define these two main concerns.