Human Germline Genome Modification and the Right to Science: A Comparative Study of National Laws and Policies

The advent of the CRISPR/Cas9 class of genome editing tools is transforming not just science and medicine, but also law. When the genome of germline cells is modified, the modifications could be inherited, with far-reaching effects in time and scale. Legal systems are struggling with keeping up with the CRISPR revolution and both lawyers and scientists are often confused about existing regulations. This book contains an analysis of the national regulatory framework in eighteen selected countries. Written by national legal experts, it includes all major players in bioengineering, plus an analysis of the emerging international standards and a discussion of how international human rights standards should inform national and international regulatory frameworks. The authors propose a set of principles for the regulation of germline engineering, based on international human rights law, that can be the foundation for regulating heritable gene editing both at the level of countries as well as globally.

Andrea Boggio is Professor of Legal Studies at Bryant University, Rhode Island. He holds a J.S.D. from Stanford University Law School.

Cesare P. R. Romano is Professor of Law and W. Joseph Ford Fellow, at Loyola Law School Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount University, California. He holds an LL.M. from New York University Law School and a Ph.D. from the Graduate Institute of International Studies of the University of Geneva.

Jessica Almqvist is Associate Professor in Public International Law at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Senior Research Fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute. She holds a Ph.D. in law from the European University Institute, Florence and a Diploma in graduate studies of political science from University of California, Berkeley.