MISCELÁNEA: BIOLOGÍA SINTÉTICA Y DERECHO INTERNACIONAL: DÉBILES CONSENSOS ANTE DESAFÍOS INMENSOS

In: Revista española de derecho internacional, Band 73, Heft 2, S. 311-336

Abstract

The dizzying scientific advances in the field of biology and biotechnology, which we are collectivelly refer to as synthetic biology, have defined new frontiers of knowledge. The latest stage in this process has been the rapid mastery of genome editing techniques, mainly CRISPR/Cas9 tools and systems. This study, from the perspective of international law, deals, on the one hand, with the implications of synthetic biology on human health, thus covering the bioethics and human rights perspective in relation to gene research and gene therapy; and, on the other hand, with the responses of international law to the challenges that gene editing and the development of modified gene drives present for biodiversity. In both dimensions, the weak existing international consensus and the profound interactions in a wide range of sectors of international law, with the presence of diverse international institutional mechanisms, are apparent, which is evidence of a multiple and complex normative crossroads.