Newswise — Michael Rodemeyer, adjunct faculty member in the University of Virginia Engineering School, is available to comment on the report from the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. The report is being released Thursday [Dec. 16].
Rodemeyer testified before the commission in July. His testimony was based on research that he had done the previous year for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The report, "New Life, Old Bottles: Regulating First-Generation Products of Synthetic Biology,” looked at existing regulation for biotechnology products and examined their adequacy for addressing the risks and uncertainties posed by the likely first-generation products of synthetic biology, including biofuel production and pharmaceutical uses.
He told the Commission that regulations and laws, while far from ideal, would give regulatory agencies sufficient authority to look at likely research and commercial risks of synthetic biology and first generation products. One exception is the problem of "garage biology" or "do-it-yourselfers" who can have the capability of doing synthetic biology outside of a commercial or university framework where processes are in place to manage risk.
His experience includes founding the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology and he served as its executive director from 2000-2005. He served as the assistant director for environment in the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Clinton Administration. He also served for 15 years in various capacities on the staff of the House Committee on Science, including that of chief counsel.
In 1998 and 1999, Rodemeyer was the Assistant Director for Environment in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, with responsibility for numerous environmental science and policy issues. He also served for 15 years on the staff of the U.S. Congress House Committee on Science, including nine years as the Chief Democratic Counsel. From 1976 through 1984, Rodemeyer was a staff attorney with the Federal Trade Commission, including four years as attorney-adviser to a Commissioner, where he worked on consumer protection and economic regulation issues.
Rodemeyer taught congressional and environmental policymaking as an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Arts and Sciences from 2000 through 2004, and has lectured widely on biotechnology and other science, law, and technology issues.
Rodemeyer graduated with honors from Harvard Law School in 1975 and received his undergraduate degree in sociology with honors from Princeton University in 1972.
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