CRISPR-Cas9, biosafety and bioethics: A jusphilosophical and environmental analysis of genetic engineering

Abstract

The new genetic engineering technique CRISPR-Cas9 projects benefits and risks of genetically manipulating and altering living organisms in order to bring about characteristics that are favorable to themselves and to humans. With an interdisciplinary method, involving Philosophy, Law, Biosafety and Bioethics, this paper aims to verify the consequences that the use of this technique can bring to the genetic nature of organisms, especially from the ethical and legal points of view. As a legal and biosafety reference, we opted for Brazilian Law n. 11.105/2005 and for philosophical and bioethical reference, we approach the controversy between the German thinkers Jürgen Habermas and Peter Sloterdijk, who analyzed the subject of genetic engineering and the risk of eugenics. It is a theoretical-bibliographic research, which uses deductive reasoning on the legal-philosophical impacts of the CRISPR-Cas9 technique. The practice of genetic engineering, despite the risks, may be an inevitable procedure in the present stage of human development and confronting it with an understanding of legal and bioethical responsibilities becomes essential.