XNA is synthetic DNA that’s stronger than the real thing

This is incredibly powerful/useful, like everything else in that category its potentially incredibly dangerous.

Theres no point trying to ban it (the ban would make it a criminal industry) and we shouldn't want to anyway. The potential uses of custom designed lifeforms is awesome.

However, what it needs is regulation. That will slow progress but it will hopefully mitigate against somebody creating a species killing bioweapon (either deliberately or by accident).

The worry is what happens out of sight and away from proper oversight in the black ops world, or in labs in China.

A worldwide treaty defining what is and isn't permissible is needed ASAP.

The mention of this XNA in the creation of new lifeforms brought the androids from the Alien franchise to mind. I don't really know why, but that's what I thought of, its possible implications in regard to the engineering of synthetic life.

Looking at some of the replies, its tiring to see everyone immediately jump into the malevolent possibilities that XNA could bring. Why not look at the possible good things that could come from such research? I could see bioengineering XNA life as a beneficial element to the medical field for one.