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Nature 436, 894-895 (18 August 2005) | doi:10.1038/436894a; Published online 17 August 2005

Synthetic biologists face up to security issues

Erika Check

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Do technological advances need new rules?

Concerns about safety and security in the young field of synthetic biology are developing almost as rapidly as the research itself.With scientists now able to create complete genomes from scratch and to introduce new characteristics into viruses and bacteria, there are fears that accidental — or worse, intentional — release of such creatures could occur.