Team:Paris Bettencourt/Human Practice/perception
From 2012.igem.org
When we first began our project, I was really skeptical about the long term goals of releasing bacteria into the environment. However, during the debate we held some members of the "government", arguing in favor of the release of genetically modified bacteria, reminded the audience that there was a time when some held the opinion that airplanes were infernal machines that would only end in doom. We were questioned by judges in Amsterdam, who said that bacterial containment is impossible. I was inspired by the debaters. We have two options, we can either accept that biological containment is impossible, or we can try to study this problem and develop containment devices. In the end we may come to the conclusion that the risks are too great to ever release GE bacteria into the environment, but if we do not try to explore this problem we will do a great diservice to all the beautiful and brilliant iGEM projects dedicated to bioremediation. -Julianne