• Question: are there any ethical concerns about manipulating bacterial DNA

    Asked by to Gemma on 16 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Gemma Marsden

      Gemma Marsden answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      Yes there are plenty of ethical considerations when manipulating bacterial DNA. Most of the bacteria I work with can make you very ill, so its important to make sure that any changes you make don’t cause the bacteria to become more dangerous. In the lab, we have procedures in place to make sure that modified bacteria aren’t released into the environment. In this country we have to receive approval from the government to work on bacteria that cause disease.

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