Paul Palmer is the executive director of BioWell. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
It's been four years since COVID-19 shut down global trade. Months of bare store shelves and shortages of strategically essential goods like pharmaceuticals, chemicals and semiconductors revealed how dependent the United States was on other countries, particularly China.
Our reliance on other countries for the products that power our economy seriously threatens our security. Yet, China remains the factory for the United States. We imported $427 billion worth of goods from China last year.
We must become a country that makes things. The burgeoning field of biomanufacturing offers a way to bring back the production of everything from food and fuel to medicines and electronics -- and do so with domestically sourced, environmentally friendly inputs.
Consider medicine. Nearly three-quarters of facilities that manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients for use in the United States are overseas. Thirteen percent are in China.
Fortunately, biomanufacturing can produce the medicines we need here cost-effectively. Academics at the University of Texas recently developed technology that could help perfect a technique known as "biosynthesis." This process can turn bacteria into "drug factories" that convert basic compounds like sugar into complex pharmaceutical molecules of our choosing.
This "greener" tech could replace methods that rely on waste-intensive plant crops and petroleum.
Then there's energy. Biomanufactured fuels can boost America's economy and national security by reducing our dependence on foreign nations for energy. Researchers from Northwestern and Yale universities and the Department of Energy recently collaborated to create specially designed microbes capable of producing carbon-neutral versions of commonly used fuels. One company, Visolis, ferments biomass waste like wood chips to make 100 percent sustainable, cost-effective aviation fuel.
Other firms are working toward solutions that reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and create sustainable raw materials. By tapping algae for oil instead of petroleum, we can produce polyurethane plastic used in everything from foam cushions and shoes to military body armor and cell phone cases, without leaving harmful microplastics behind. A San Diego-based startup, Algenesis, has begun deploying biomanufactured plastic in the lining of pipes, which could have a massive effect on the sanctity of our water supply.
Biomanufactured products can shore up food security. Scientists have already figured out how to produce tasty and nutritious proteins -- including beef, chicken and egg whites -- with just a portion of the resources it takes to grow these items conventionally.
Biomanufacturing more of our food will help tackle the climate-warming emissions released by conventional agriculture. In the event of geopolitical strife, bio-based foods can help ensure the U.S. population has a robust domestic supply chain to turn to.
Biomanufacturing might help us produce semiconductors. Researchers recently broke down plant biomass from birch leaves into carbon quantum dots for use in semiconductor production. The same "pressure-cooking" method can be used with other plants, promising future innovation.
Unfortunately, America's capacity to manufacture bio-based products is far behind where it should be. Even as revolutionary advances in synthetic biology are happening on U.S. soil, companies are increasingly looking abroad to commercialize these discoveries.
It's an eerily familiar story. A recent report from the Council of Advisers on Science and Technology warned, "Much like the American semiconductor industry turned to countries in Asia to bring their products to commercial scale, China is rapidly becoming a leader in biobased production."
We can't repeat the mistakes we made with semiconductors.
The good news is that through public- and private-sector investment, we can stand up shared facilities for large-scale biomanufacturing and significantly flatten the cost curve for commercialization. Initiatives like the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act will also help support the highly trained workforce and research and development infrastructure needed to challenge China's biomanufacturing lead.
We also need to get out of our own way. Too often, burdensome regulatory review processes for nature-based products have stalled or halted commercialization and manufacturing. That's why the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology calls on the Department of Defense to outline critical chemicals for biomanufacturing -- and coordinate with Congress and the private sector on these needs.
As the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology noted, the world is on "the cusp of a new industrial revolution." Biotechnologies are at the vanguard of that revolution.
Investing in the infrastructure needed to produce them is imperative to our long-term security.