The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has announced that it has opened a consultation on emerging biotechnologies:

The Council is seeking views on the ethical issues posed by emerging biotechnologies. Your views will be valuable in shaping and informing the deliberations of a Working Party that was recently set up to consider this topic.

The Working Party is interested in the way society and policy makers respond to new biotechnologies and how benefits from these technologies can be secured in an ethically appropriate manner. This issue will be considered in light of both current examples of emerging biotechnologies, such as synthetic biology and nanotechnology, and older cases, such as genetically modified crops and assisted reproduction technologies.

All responses will be considered carefully by the Working Party. We aim to publish our final report, including recommendations to policy makers, in autumn 2012.

The consultation document and response form are available to download here.