Synthetic biology and ethics: A systematic review

Synthetic biology is the design and creation of biological tools and systems for useful purposes. Biology-related information such as biotechnology, molecular biology, biophysics, biochemistry, and bioinformatics and information from different disciplines such as engineering, mathematics, computer science, and electronic engineering is used. In this context, it is accepted as a science and a technology. The scope of synthetic biology ranges from modifying existing organisms to acquiring new properties, from non-living components to creating a living organism. It has different application areas in essential sectors such as synthetic biology, energy, chemistry, medicine, environment, agriculture, national security and nanotechnology. The development of synthetic biology also raises ethical and social debates. This thesis aims to determine the place of ethics in synthetic biology. In this context, the theoretical ethical debates regarding synthetic biology from the 2000s until 2020, when the development of synthetic biology was relatively rapid, were analyzed using the systematic review method. Based on the findings basic ethical problems related to the field, possible problems that may arise in the future and solutions to these problems are included. The data collection phase of the research includes a literature review that includes planning, screening, selection and evaluation, carried out under the protocols. The analysis and synthesis process and the basic themes related to synthetic biology and ethics were revealed in the next stage. Searches were carried out in Web of Science, Scopus, PhilPapers and MEDLINE databases. Theoretical research articles and reviews published in peer-reviewed journals in English until the end of 2020 were included in the study. A total of 1453 publications were obtained from four databases. According to inclusion and exclusion criteria, 58 publications were included in the study and analyzed. Ethical discussions are carried out on very different topics and in a wide range of synthetic biology. In this context, ethical debates are examined in five themes in this thesis: the moral status of the synthetic biology product, synthetic biology and the nature of life, synthetic biology and metaphors, synthetic biology and knowledge, and expectations, concerns and problem-solving ways regarding synthetic biology. Although the thesis is descriptive, it is possible to find suggestions that appear recursively in systematic reviews. These recommendations may also have a normative meaning. In this context, the suggestions put forward within the scope of the thesis consist of ethically important practical suggestions that emerged in the research of the thesis and our contributions to them.