Synthetic biology (SB) is rather a new field of
science and technology. Societal, regulatory, legal, eth-
ical, safety and security aspects of this field have already
been analysed in much detail and discussed very widely
in recent years. There is, however, a dearth of empirical
studies on the points of view of relevant stakeholders in
countries where SB is still in the process of emergence.
Slovenia is one of them, and accordingly, the article
analyses the situation of SB in this small country, focus-
ing on the points of view of various stakeholder groups
concerning three aspects of SB: the policy framework,
the ethical-legal discourse and the issues of biosafety
and biosecurity. It is argued that Slovenia has missed
many opportunities to foster the domestic development
of the field; in particular, considering that at an early
stage, young Slovenian researchers participated very
successfully in the International Genetically Engineered
Machine (iGEM) competition.

EB00000003693K

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• How to Address the Policy and Ethical Issues Emerging with New Technology. The Case of Synthetic Biology in a Small Country