The Legal Risk of Human Enhancement Technology and Its Regulation in China

Abstract

As technology advances, our ability to intervene with ourselves has reached an unprecedented height, and “human enhancement” has come into being and discussed by the public. This paper holds that human enhancement behavior is based on mutual voluntary medical service behavior, which is essentially a civil legal act. In reality, human enhancement may be abused under the dual inducement of commercial interests and social needs as the technology develops. The Chinese government has the responsibility to be a major part in the process of regulating the technology by law in order to minimize its harmful impact on public stability. But some problems still exist, such as vague regulatory standards, unclear regulatory authorities, insufficient legal responsibility response and imperfect relief procedures. This paper focuses on the legal issues brought about by human enhancement and discusses it in a systematic way, and tries to put forward suggestions that could function with China’s national conditions. As for the bottom line of human enhancement, reproduction gene enhancement should be absolutely prohibited, and other enhancement methods should be conditionally restricted. In terms of the overall regulation path, it should focus on legal provisions, and implement the regulation mode by both mild and strict laws. China should also set up special agencies and implement strict access mechanism. At the same time, the industry association should formulate the corresponding technical norms and cultivate the scientific concept of the public, in order to improve the effect of legal regulation.