Legal aspects of new genetic technologies

Abstract

The development of genomic editing technologies has significantly intesificated the shortcomings of the legal regulation for genetic technologies as in general and as for new technologies of genetic engineering in particular. Because of imperfected legislation for genetic engineering, and in some cases because of its archaism, new genomic technologies, such as genetic editing technologies, which are growth drivers in science, could not be drivers in the economics. The outdated terms and concepts framework and the legal indetermination of using the products based on new genetic technologies (including genome editing) are barriers to achieving the goals to ensure the technological independence of Russia.

The basis of the current legal regulation system of genetic engineering in Russia is a focus to the process and technologies, i.e. methods of the product producing. This means that the changes within genetic information is not important, but only the method of development is. Such way of regulation provides a priori chronic lag in legislation, which could finally lead to technological lag as whole country. The transition to a product-oriented system, when the analysis of base of genetic information changes makes possible to clearly answer to the question of the methods used for this, will allow us to avoid the shortcomings within development of synthetic biology methods indicated earlier, as now as in the future.

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