Synthetic Biology and Public Health: Problems, Politics, and Policy

Synthetic biology ("synbio") offers a serious opportunity to improve human welfare in a number of ways. However, it has beensuggested by some that the technology presents new moral problems. In this paper, I deny that there is anything morally newabout synbio, and suggest a way in which we can, and perhaps ought, to ensure that its potential benefits are as widely felt aspossible: by making the tools necessary for "gene hacking" publicly available. I also seek to show that the most obvious objectionsto such an open-source approach to biotechnology can be met or sidestepped entirely.