Sustainable Development Impact

Introduction

Making a project that is sustainable, responsible and good for the world is a priority for us. At each step of our project, from brainstorming our major issue to the design and its implementation in the world, we have tried to match the objectives of a more sustainable development listed below. These 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed upon in 2015 by world leaders, aim to create a better and fairer world by 2030 – ending poverty, urgently addressing climate change and ending inequalities. These objectives are primarily aimed at countries within a global partnership, but also concern each individual initiator of a new project. We believe that our study may be interesting for other iGEM teams who would like to take over our project or build one with similar elements to ours. Necessarily, our project is not adapted to the application of all these objectives. We have therefore identified four of them that corresponded the most to our problems and have tried to comply with them as much as possible. These are :

Good health and well-being (3)
Industry, innovation and infrastructure (9)
Responsible consumption and production (12)
Partnerships for the goals (17)

It required us to work hard on the positive and negative long-term impacts of our project on other stakeholders as well as on society, the environment and the economy. Thanks to the testimonies of many stakeholders and thanks to significant ethical work, we have proven in a measurable and significant way that we are responding to these SDGs. It is this work that we present here.

Positive and negative long-term impacts of our fully developed solution

What is this sustainable development goal?

This goal of sustainable development aims to guarantee a healthy life and promotes well-being at any age and for an ever-increasing number of people.

How does our approach allow us to respond (social, environmental and economic impacts)?

- Positive long-term impact

The first positive long-term impact of our project is on the health of our users, the astronauts. Throughout our ethical reflection, we have raised the fact that if we continue the project we would have to perform numerous non-toxicity tests on our final products. This would allow us to adopt an approach respectful of the well-being of our users. We have also studied the well-being of all the actors involved in our project thanks to our ethical matrix.

Possible long-term negative impact

It is always difficult to know how a new technology will evolve. Many tests are to be expected before the implementation of our device to be sure that no adverse effects occur over time following the ingestion of our microorganisms. Thus, another ethical problem we will have to deal with is: on which model will we test our enriched yeast? We thought of testing our yeasts on mice, an animal model close to humans. To do so, we will respect all European regulations in place (directive 2010/63) as well as the ethical charters for animal experimentation (charte nationale sur l’éthique de l’expérimentation animale,1992). Long-term impacts on the environment are also taken into account in our ethical matrix.

Feedback from relevant SDG stakeholder

- Brigitte Godard

Dr. Brigitte Godard is a doctor in medicine specialized in medical biology. She joined the Institute of Space Medicine and Physiology (MEDES) in 2005 where she studied bed rest experiments. She is currently one of the few european astronaut’s Doctor.

Ms. Godard validated the usefulness of our device from a medical point of view, raising the necessity for the health of astronauts of this type of device to succeed in long-duration space travel. She also offered us her help if we decide to pursue the project.

- Marie-Pierre Escudié

Marie-Pierre Escudié is in charge of studies and research at the Institut Gaston Berger of INSA (National Institute of Applied Sciences) in Lyon. She has been iGEM Toulouse referent in ethics since 2017.

Ms. Escudié helped us build an ethical matrix in order to study the impact of our project on the various stakeholders with respect to three values: autonomy, well-being and justice. For each step of our project and for each stakeholder, we have deployed measures to respect these values and think about the possible impact of our project on the well-being of stakeholders.

Page from our wiki with some answers to this SDG

References:

- Degradation of vitamins over time

[1]

World Health Organization, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, “Vitamin and mineral requirements in human nutrition - Second Edition”. Available: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/42716/9241546123.pdf?ua=1

[2]

ESA, Alimenter notre avenir - La nutrition sur Terre et dans l’espace. 2009.

[3]

E. Lešková, J. Kubíková, E. Kováčiková, M. Košická, J. Porubská, and K. Holčíková, “Vitamin losses: Retention during heat treatment and continual changes expressed by mathematical models,” Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, vol. 19, no. 4. Academic Press, pp. 252–276, 01-Jun-2006, doi: 10.1016/j.jfca.2005.04.014.

[4]

DSM, “Vitamin Stability - Vitamin basics - Compendium - DSM.” [Online]. Available: https://www.dsm.com/markets/anh/en_US/Compendium/vitamin_basics/vitamin_stability.html.

[5]

P. Berry Ottaway, “Stability of vitamins during food processing and storage,” in Chemical Deterioration and Physical Instability of Food and Beverages, Elsevier Inc., 2010, pp. 539–560.

- Ethics

[6]

Kermisch, C. Les matrices éthiques au service des technologies à risques. Le cas de la gestion des déchets radioactifs à longue vie, 2016.

[7]

“La réglementation et l’éthique de l’expérimentation animale,” Inserm - La science pour la santé. https://www.inserm.fr/recherche-inserm/ethique/utilisation-animaux-fins-recherche/reglementation-et-ethique-experimentation-animale (accessed Oct. 24, 2020).

What is this sustainable development goal?

Inclusive and sustainable industrialization, together with innovation and infrastructure, can unleash dynamic and competitive economic forces that generate employment and income. They play a key role in the introducing and promoting of new technologies, facilitating international trade and the efficient use of resources. It is these points that this goal of sustainable development assesses.

How does our approach enable us to meet them (social, environmental and economic impacts)?

- Positive long-term impact

In the long term, if we set up our own start-up, we could participate in the innovation and dynamism of the space sector by creating jobs in a field that is still relatively untreated: biology for space.

- Possible long-term negative impact

Like many innovations developed for space, the long-term risk is to invest huge financial resources in a project that may benefit very few people.

Feedback from relevant SDG stakeholder

- Spaceship Project

Within the framework of the Spaceship project, we had the opportunity to meet innovation stakeholders, such as Mr. Alain Maillet, expert at the CNES (National Center for Space Studies). He presented us the possibility to integrate the Spaceship project in the case that we would continue the project. With the Spaceship project, the CNES proposes to build a place of innovation, facilitating collaborative and interdisciplinary work, learning and experimentation to better stimulate, innovate and promote French excellence in the fields of Exploration and Human Spaceflight.

This proposal by Mr. Alain Maillet comes from the fact that iGEMINI fully corresponds to the inclusion criteria in the Spaceship project, both in the values of sustainability and in the innovative aspect.

- Ethical matrix and Business plan

In order to carry out an innovative project while considering the economic impact, it was essential to create a business plan and an ethical matrix. The business plan allowed us to predict the economic evolution of the start-up we could create while the ethical matrix highlighted the impact of this evolution for the different stakeholders. Thus, a large part of the investment of our project is public, which raises the problem of the legitimacy of such an important investment for a non-vital and niche domain.

Page from our wiki with some answers to this SDG

References:

- Ethical matrix

[6]

Kermisch, C. Les matrices éthiques au service des technologies à risques. Le cas de la gestion des déchets radioactifs à longue vie, 2016.

What is this sustainable development goal?

Worldwide consumption and production — a driving force of the global economy — rests on the use of the natural environment and resources in a way that continues to have destructive impacts on the planet. Sustainable consumption and production is about doing more and better with less. It is also about decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation, increasing resource efficiency and promoting sustainable lifestyles. Sustainable consumption and production can also contribute substantially to poverty alleviation and the transition towards low-carbon and green economies. It is these points that we will consider through this goal of sustainable development.

How does our approach enable us to meet them (social, environmental and economic impacts)?

- Positive long-term impact

Our co-culture has as its primary objective the production of a significant quantity of vitamin A-enriched yeast from minimal resources that are originally wasted. This is totally within the scope of this SDG. One of our long term goals will be to optimize our coculture to produce a maximum amount of yeast from a minimum of resources and thus reduce the environmental impact while maintaining the production of value for economic growth. On the other hand, our system works in a completely closed cycle in terms of its resources, which is a major advantage for its applications both on earth and in space. We could imagine in particular to couple our device on factory effluents and thus use CO2 and H2 to produce a yeast that could detoxify or produce high value-added components.

- Possible long-term negative impact

However, it should be noted that the recycling of the different elements of our co-culture is for the moment unclear and complex, which could lead to a long-term environmental impact. This is one of the points that we will improve if we continue with this project.

Feedback from relevant SDG stakeholder

- Marie-Pierre Escudié : Ethical Matrix for Space

Throughout our ethical matrix, Marie-Pierre Escudié helped us study the impact of the actors involved in the production and recycling of our project on the values of autonomy, well-being and justice. This allowed us to highlight the elements that we still have to improve, including the recycling of the system and the sensors.

Page from our wiki with some answers to this SDG

References:

- Ethical matrix

[6]

Kermisch, C. Les matrices éthiques au service des technologies à risques. Le cas de la gestion des déchets radioactifs à longue vie, 2016.

What is this sustainable development goal?

The SDGs can only be realized with strong global partnerships and cooperation.

A successful development agenda requires inclusive partnerships — at the global, regional, national and local levels — built upon principles and values, and upon a shared vision and shared goals placing people and the planet at the center.

These are the tools we have developed to achieve a more sustainable project.

How does our approach allow us to respond (social, environmental and economic impacts)?

- Positive long-term impact

Throughout our project, we have established partnerships and collaborations at different scales (global, European, national). In particular, we have been supported by CNES, the French space agency, as well as TWB (Toulouse white biotechnology) and TBI (Toulouse biotechnology institute), two influential laboratories in the Toulouse area. On the other hand, we wanted to give an international dimension to our project, by adapting our system to the local constraints of a country (Partnership with AshesiGhana team) and by creating strong connections with the Concordia team to work towards common goals. We thus helped iGEM Concordia, a Canadian iGEM team, to shape its database, while providing us with information on the impact of microgravity on microorganisms. In the long term, it is thanks to these partnerships that our project will be able to take on a global dimension by adapting to the needs, legislation and mindset of all countries likely to send men into space over long distances.

- Possible long-term negative impact

In the long term, common goals can sometimes diverge and it is important to maintain the link with our partners so that everyone shares benefits.

Feedback from relevant SDG stakeholder

- Survey of the Ghanaian population about the accessibility of our device in a region known to have vitamin A deficiency.

We surveyed the Ghanaian population in the context of the implementation of our system on Earth. This is to enable us to adapt our device to the needs and mindset of our target market.

To access our results and conclusions, go to the Partnership page.

Page from our wiki with some answers to this SDG

Partnership

Conclusion

Through our approach, we were able to explore the long-term impact of our system according to four major sustainable development issues: health and well-being, innovation and industry, sustainable production and consumption and partnerships. Supported by feedback from stakeholders, we were able to show that our project is sustainable from an economic, social and environmental point of view. Nevertheless, some points still need to be improved, particularly with regard to the recycling of our equipment and the tests to be carried out to ensure the non-toxicity of our products. These are points to explore if we continue the project or for other iGEM teams who would like to continue our project.