Heritable human genome editing : the bioethical battle for the basis and future of human rights

Abstract

Is it permissible to interfere with the genome of future humans? Recent advances – including the alleged birth of the first genome-edited babies in 2018 – have brought fresh vigour to this long- standing human rights debate. This article first summarises the existing international human rights law (IHRL) prohibitions on such interference, the ‘conservative’ arguments that justify it, and the ‘liberal’ critique of the same. It then develops two arguments. First, this debate is underpinned by a clash of visions as to the orientation, basis and limits of human rights themselves. Each side draws on a strand of existing IHRL practice, but each requires radical transformation of that practice. Given this, the prohibitions are best understood not as individual or collective rights, but rather as ‘self-defence’ provisions analogous to abuse or derogation clauses. This understanding may help clarify and unblock the debate. Second, human rights have serious limitations as the terrain for this debate, above all in obscuring the true existential stakes behind the clash. The article concludes with broader reflections on human rights’ adequacy to address questions concerning the long-term future of humanity.