Team:Aix-Marseille/Human Practices
Since the very beginning of our project, we have thought a great deal about the Human Practices. In order to make our project as useful as possible we discussed with many people: with bed bug detection and eradication specialists; with entomologists; and with the general public. In this way, we tried to design our project and develop our scientific approach, to be as acceptable and applicable as possible.
We had to imagine our project in its environmental and social context in order to meet the needs of the public and replace currently used insecticides. The current solutions to bed bug infestations using insecticides are very harmful at different levels. First, broad-spectrum insecticides can, unfortunately, kill beneficial insects such as bees, but also bedbugs develop resistance to insecticides and so these solutions become inefficient requiring higher and higher doses of chemicals.
We tried to develop a novel green and ethical solution for our project. Moreover, public opinion convinced us not to use GMOs in our trap. All of these investigations suggested that a modified fungus in the environment would probably be acceptable neither to the legislative authorities nor to consumers. So Human Practices influenced all our project modifying our initial plan and led us to find alternative solutions.
Surveys
When we started the project, we did not know the relationship between the general public and bed bugs. How did they feel about this problem? What were they prepared to use in their homes? and what was their opinion about GMOs?
We also wanted to gain knowledge about the needs of people with infested homes. To improve our understanding, we decided to perform several surveys which we thought was the most appropriate method. In our first surveys, we focused on the general public's opinion. We asked about: the issues caused by bed bugs, the kind of solutions they needed, and their opinions on GMO's. Thanks to these surveys, we determined that the current solution, insecticides, is seen as a source of pollution. Besides this, many people reported a lack of efficiency, with the rapid return of bed bugs. We observed that a high majority of those questioned were in favor of using GMOs to get rid of bed bugs. Another information we obtained was a trap was better perceived as a solution than indiscriminately spreading insecticidal products (for example fungi). In light of these opinions, we choose to design a trap without directly including GMOs.
Interviews
To understand the feasibility of our project it was essential to have the opinions of professionals in the domain. We contacted several bed bug specialists to discuss the implementation of our project. We met Mr. Olivier Gremau, the founder of a canine detection company, he thought that our approach was innovative. We also consulted an entomologist, expert on bed bugs: Mr. Jean-Michel Berenger. He confirmed that a pheromone-based trap was an efficient weapon in the bed bugs fight. Moreover, he gave us precious pointers to optimize our trap. On another subject, we consulted Mr. Jean-Louis Moncler, an entrepreneurship consultant, who gave us multiple advices on how to develop a financial apparoach around the project. These consultations helped develop a better project.
Testimonies
A nationwide advertisement campaign gave us a great opportunity: we got testimonies from bed bug infestation victims. Indeed, we were very surprised by the great interest the public generated, showing us the degree of suffering endured by people facing bed bug infestations. In particular, the various testimonies we have collected gave us more information about affected areas. Based on these observations, we have targeted and modeled affected area to design the most efficient trap.
Public Engagement and education
The team participated in a number of educational events targetting different groups. School children were introduced to synthetic biology via interventions in schools and centers with experimental activities around DNA (Science Village, European researchers night...). We participated in a national conference on social housing, presenting our project to professionals in the domain. A more informed audience was targeted through a conference and stand at a local biotechnology forum. These interventions helped educate the youngest ons about synthetic biology and bring a wider vision of GMOs to an older public.
Integrating Human Practices
Our human practices work was integrated into our project at various levels. First, discussions concerning biosafety with scientists at the science fair and biosafety experts at the annual 4th Parisian meet-up raised concerns about a super-virulent fungus. This pushed us to redesign our trap protoype. Second, discussions with the bed bug expert, Mr. Berenger, comforted us in the use or a pheromone-based trap. Third, feedback from the general public indicated a trap containing live genetically modified organisms was only partially acceptable. These different approaches lead to the modification of our design to avoid including GMOs.