Dr Venter, a 63-year-old Vietnam War veteran known for his showman tendencies, said last night We are entering a new era where were limited mostly by our imaginations But the breakthrough, which took 15 years and f277million to achieve, opens an ethical Pandora's box. Ethicists said he is 'creaking open the most profound door in humanity s history-with unparalleled risks Dr Venter, whose team of 20 scientists includes a Nobel laureate, likens the process to booting-up Like a program without a hard drive, the dNa doesn't do anything by itself. But, when the software is loaded into the computer- in this case the second bacterium- amazing things are possible, he said Now that the scientist, whose J Craig Venter Institute has labs in California and Maryland, has proved the concept, the path is open for him to alter the recipe to create any sort of organism he At the top of his wishlist are bugs capable of producing clean biofuels and of sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Other possibilities include designer microbes that can mop up oil slicks or generate huge quantities of drugs, including the flu vaccine Any such organisms would be deliberately 'crippled so that they cannot survive outside the lab, he Brushing aside the ethical concerns of his work, Dr Venter wrote in his autobiography that it would allow 'a new creature to enter the world We have often been asked if this will be a step too far,'he said. 'I always reply that-so far at least we are only reconstructing a diminished version of what is out there in nature. Last night he claimed the breakthrough had changed his views on the definition of life. ' We have ended up with the first synthetic cell powered and controlled by a synthetic chromosome and made from four bottles of chemicals. he said It is pretty stunning when you just replace the DNA software in a cell and the cell instantly starts reading that new software and starts making a whole new set of proteins, and within a short while all the characteristics of the first species disappear and a new species emerges That's a pretty important change in how we approach and think about life. The process was carried out on one of the simplest types of bacteria, under strict ethical guideline The research team insist that they cannot think of a day when the technology could be used to create animals or people from scratch4 Dr Venter, a 63-year-old Vietnam War veteran known for his showman tendencies, said last night: 'We are entering a new era where we're limited mostly by our imaginations.' But the breakthrough, which took 15 years and £27.7million to achieve, opens an ethical Pandora's box. Ethicists said he is 'creaking open the most profound door in humanity's history' - with unparalleled risks. Dr Venter, whose team of 20 scientists includes a Nobel laureate, likens the process to booting-up a computer. Like a program without a hard drive, the DNA doesn't do anything by itself. But, when the software is loaded into the computer - in this case the second bacterium - amazing things are possible, he said. Now that the scientist, whose J Craig Venter Institute has labs in California and Maryland, has proved the concept, the path is open for him to alter the 'recipe' to create any sort of organism he chooses. At the top of his wishlist are bugs capable of producing clean biofuels and of sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Other possibilities include designer microbes that can mop up oil slicks or generate huge quantities of drugs, including the flu vaccine. Any such organisms would be deliberately 'crippled' so that they cannot survive outside the lab, he claimed. Brushing aside the ethical concerns of his work, Dr Venter wrote in his autobiography that it would allow 'a new creature to enter the world'. 'We have often been asked if this will be a step too far,' he said. 'I always reply that - so far at least - we are only reconstructing a diminished version of what is out there in nature.' Last night, he claimed the breakthrough had changed his views on the definition of life. 'We have ended up with the first synthetic cell powered and controlled by a synthetic chromosome and made from four bottles of chemicals,' he said. 'It is pretty stunning when you just replace the DNA software in a cell and the cell instantly starts reading that new software and starts making a whole new set of proteins, and within a short while all the characteristics of the first species disappear and a new species emerges. 'That's a pretty important change in how we approach and think about life.' The process was carried out on one of the simplest types of bacteria, under strict ethical guidelines. The research team insist that they cannot think of a day when the technology could be used to create animals or people from scratch