From David Muir
Jon White writes: “synthesis machines will eventually mean anyone, scientist or layperson, can make a new molecule” (11 July, p 34). On the same day, I read in a national newspaper of users of “legal highs” being admitted to hospital with car-crash-like internal injuries.
Just as 3D printers may spawn illegal weapons, I fear such a synthesis machine will give drug makers a lucrative new avenue. History indeed “shows us that putting technology into the hands of non-experts can have tremendous impacts” – but not always for society’s benefit.
Edinburgh, UK
