El Derecho ante la técnica de edición genética CRISPR

Abstract

Resumen: La técnica de edición genética CRISPR constituye uno de los avances recientes más extraordinarios en materia de biotecnología, de alcances insospechados. En ese contexto, resulta fundamental analizar sus repercusiones en el ámbito de los derechos humanos, toda vez que, así como puede propiciar avances extraordinarios para su mejor desarrollo, puede también generar nuevas amenazas.

CRISPR-Cas Technology, the Tool of the Future

“…A series of risks or concerns implied in the CRISPR-Cas technique, including genetic engineering of human babies or embryo manipulation, unexpected mutations, ecosystem disturbance due to the uncontrolled usage of the technique, secondary effects inherited to future generations, unwanted genetic changes in a population, eugenics, and its application for wicked purposes, such as biological weapons (Cárdenas, 2019).…”

“…In numerous countries, such as Germany, Spain, and Colombia, patents for human germline modifications are prohibited according to the Directive 98/44/CE of the European Parliament and Council, issued in 1998 (Cárdenas, 2019). The three biotechnological superpowers do not follow the same policies: The United States government does not fund any application on human germlines, but the U.K. does since investigations involving human germlines are allowed as long as they are previously approved by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA).…”

“…As for bioethics, the different positions referring to the use of human germline can be divided into three groups: total prohibition, regardless of its purpose, prohibition when not used for therapeutic purposes, and total approval of its application under certain conditions (Capella, 2016). In the 2017 "Human Gene Editing: Science, Ethics and Governance" report, human germline editing is considered possible in the future when the public opinion about the topic turns positive (Cárdenas, 2019).…”