Ethics of Emerging Biotechnology: Editing and Biosecurity · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Facts set the menu, values pick the meal

Science · Scientific Inquiry · ages 23-24
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. What is the technical side of a gain-of-function proposal?

    • Whether the knowledge is worth the risk
    • What the modified agent does and if it can be measured safely
    • Who gets to decide

  2. What separates germline editing from somatic editing?

    • Germline edits can pass to future generations
    • Somatic edits are always unsafe
    • Germline edits use different enzymes

  3. Molecular cloning copies a gene while reproductive cloning makes a whole organism with copied DNA.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. When should a team raise the value questions in a project?

    • Inside everyday choices, while redesign is still cheap
    • Only after publication
    • At the final checklist

  5. Why can no experiment settle whether a risky study is worth doing?

    • Review boards ban all risk numbers
    • Data from such studies is always wrong
    • Worth depends on values about what we owe each other

  6. Which review structure screens cheap gene assembly orders?

    • Institutional review boards
    • Synthesis order screening
    • Journal peer review

  7. A lab proposes a risky pathogen study with only a technical safety plan. What is missing?

    • A longer methods section
    • The value case plus the dual-use and board review route
    • A bigger budget

  8. Two societies split over germline editing despite agreeing on the science. How do you explain it?

    • More data will dissolve the split
    • One side misunderstands the facts
    • Shared facts, different values about future generations and risk
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Facts set the menu, values pick the meal W1-mt_U5OY2wvimB-s1

  1. What the modified agent does and if it can be measured safely · Behaviour and safe measurement are empirical questions.
  2. Germline edits can pass to future generations · Inherited edits commit people who never consented.
  3. True · Gene copies versus organism copies are easy to mix up but differ hugely.
  4. Inside everyday choices, while redesign is still cheap · Early notice buys time to slow down or choose safer designs.
  5. Worth depends on values about what we owe each other · Facts set the menu of choices; values pick from it.
  6. Synthesis order screening · Order screening gates assembly before the DNA ships.
  7. The value case plus the dual-use and board review route · Safety numbers never substitute for the worth question and its review.
  8. Shared facts, different values about future generations and risk · Values differ across communities, so identical facts yield different verdicts.
Worksheet · LightMySky