The book “Governing, Protecting, and Regulating the Future of Genome Editing” - previously the special issue in EJHL - has now been published.
March 27, 2023
We are glad to share that the book “Governing, Protecting, and Regulating the Future of Genome Editing” - previously the special issue in EJHL - has now been published. The book is OA thanks to the generous support from Lund University.
The book includes a chapter on "Genome Editing: Learning from Its Past and Envisioning Its Future" by Judit Sandor.
"With the technical possibility of genome editing, we have reached a new phase of transforming human beings and even altering our genetic legacy. Genome editing constitutes new responsibilities in many fields. Science and society have never been as dependent on each other as they are today. We must also learn from the past episodes of eugenics and we need to investigate fraudulent practices and cases of failure in scientific research that have often occurred due to merciless scientific competition, profit-seeking commercial interests, or individual pride. Genome editing raises numerous legal questions, such as: Would it be possible to make a legal difference between specific versions of gene editing? Who decides on what is considered a disease or an anomaly, a condition, or a variation? Which diseases are worth being corrected or treated and which ones are not? What kinds of social implications will gene editing bring about when it becomes widely available? Some normative distinctions have already been made in the case of gene therapy: separating somatic from germline interventions. But this distinction has not yet been analyzed in the light of the most recent editing practices. Genome editing also realigns the structure of ethical debates."