Availability of Judicial Protection in the Process of Editing the Human Genome

Genetic technologies are rapidly developing, which is not the case for the normative consolidation of scientific achievements and opportunities. The science aimed at improving the quality of life of people is already able to prevent many hereditary disorders by removing the «wrong» gene from the embryo DNA. Editing the human genome is not the future, but the present.

It is assumed that legalization in the area of the human genome editing for preventive or therapeutic purposes is more than possible. The article analyzes the issues of the right to go to court on the ground of legal relations that arise when the human embryo genome is edited during the procedure of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and subsequently a «genetically modified» child is born.

Due to the lack of detailed legal regulation of the IVF procedure, scientific research on human embryos and genome editing technology, the author does not exclude situations when successful research can be carried out as well as errors can be committed. In the latter case, it is possible to work upon «healthy» DNA elements instead of or together with «sick» elements, which endangers the life and health of not only the potential person, but also his discendants.

Given that the current legislation does not determine the status of a human embryo and establishes the moment of birth as the moment of capacity, while the civil procedural capacity (that is one of the prerequisites for the right to go to a court) of an individual coincides with civil legal capacity, the future human life is deprived of any legal protection. For the same reason, other persons may not go to court in the interests of the unborn child. The article attempts to find a way out of this situation by analyzing Russian and international legislation, as well as the ECHR case law.

1. Babadzhanov I. Kh., Salnikov M. V. Status embriona cheloveka: problemy pravovogo regulirovaniya [A Status of Human Embryo: Problems of legal regulation]. Mir politiki i sotsiologii [World of politics and sociology]. 2016. No. 10. P. 120—130. (In Russ.)

2. Besedkina N. I. Konstitutsionno-pravovaya zashchita prav nerodivshegosya rebenka v Rossiyskoy Federatsii : avtoref. dis. ... kand. yurid. nauk [Constitutional protection of the rights of an unborn child in the Russian Federation: PhD Abstract]. Moscow, 2005. (In Russ.)

3. Vazhik E. E. Embrion kak spetsificheskiy obekt pravovykh otnosheniy : yurisprudentsiya v sovremennoy Rossii : materialy Vseros. zaoch. nauch.-prakt. konferentsii [Embrio as a specific object of legal relations: Jurisprudence in modern Russia: Proceedings of All-Russian Distance Scientific Conference]. 2011. URL: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwiT9ZaJobzhAhXX wMQBHQuCDFYQFjAAegQIBhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsibac.info%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Ffiles% 2F2011_03_05_Urisprydenciya% 2FVijik.pdf & usg = AOvVaw2ESW4dWfNwP1BRZ6diHwbr . (In Russ.)

4. Volkova T. Pravovaya zashchita prava na zhizn novorozhdennogo [Legal protection of the right to life of the newborn]. Zakonnost [Legality]. 2004. No. 4. pp. 6—10. (In Russ.)

5. Glandin S. V. O statuse embriona cheloveka v svete prava na uvazhenie lichnoy i semeynoy zhizni v evropeyskom i rossiyskom prave [On the status of the human embryo in the light of the right to respect for personal and family life in the European and Russian law]. Zakon [The Law]. 2014, No. 4, P. 136—141. (In Russ.)

6. Golubov I. I., Grigorovich E. V. Ugolovnaya otvetstvennost pri ispolzovanii iskusstvennykh metodov reproduktsii [Criminal responsibility in the use of artificial methods of reproduction]. Yurist [The Lawyer]. 1999. No. 11. (In Russ.)

7. Gukasyan R. E. Problema interesa v sovetskom grazhdanskom protsessualnom prave [The problem of interest in the Soviet civil procedural law]. Nauchnoe nasledie kafedry grazhdanskogo i administrativnogo sudoproizvodstva (grazhdanskogo protsessa) : sbornik nauchnykh trudov [Scientific legacy of the Department of Civil and Administrative Proceedings (Civil Procedure): Collection of Research Papers]. Moscow, 2017. P. 437— 589. (In Russ.)

8. Gurvich M. A. Pravo na isk [The Right to bring a claim]. Nauchnoe nasledie kafedry grazhdanskogo i administrativnogo sudoproizvodstva (grazhdanskogo protsessa) : sbornik nauchnykh trudov (Civil Procedure): Collection of Research Papers]. Moscow, 2017. P. 13 190. (In Russ.)

9. Kovler A. I. Antropologiya prava [Anthropology of Law]. Moscow, 2002. (In Russ.)

10. Konopleva E. L., Ostapenko V. M. On the question of the draft Federal Law «On Donation of Organs, Parts of Human Organs and their Transplantation (Transplantation).» Meditsinskoe pravo [Medical Law]. 2015. No. 3. P. 14—19. (In Russ.)

11. Krylova N. E. Ob ugolovno-pravovoy zashchite prav cheloveka ot obshchestvenno opasnykh narusheniy bioetiki [Protection of human rights from socially dangerous violations of bioethics under criminal law]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 11 : Pravo [Bulletin of the Moscow University. Series 11: Law]. 2003. No. 1. P. 38—58. (in Russ.)

12. Maleshina A. V. Prestupleniya protiv zhizni v stranakh obshchego prava [Crimes against life in the common law countries]. Moscow, 2017. (In Russ.)

13. Perevozchikova E. V. Konstitutsionnoe pravo na zhizn i reproduktivnye prava cheloveka : avtoref. dis. ... kand. yurid. nauk [The constitutional right to life and human reproductive rights: PhD Abstract]. Kazan, 2005. (In Russ.)

14. Perevozchikova E. V., Pankratova E. A. Konstitutsionnoe pravo na zhizn i pravovoy status embriona [The constitutional right to life and legal status of the embryo]. Meditsinskoe pravo [Medical Law]. 2006. No. 2. P. 16—22. (In Russ.)

15. Shakaryan M. S. Subekty sovetskogo grazhdanskogo protsessualnogo prava [Subjects of the Soviet Civil Procedural Law]. Nauchnoe nasledie kafedry grazhdanskogo i administrativnogo sudoproizvodstva (grazhdanskogo protsessa) : sbornik nauchnykh trudov [Scientific legacy of the Department of Civil and Administrative Proceedings (Civil Procedure): Collection of Research Papers]. Moscow, 2017. P. 229—373. (In Russ.)

16. Yudin B. G. Redaktirovanie cheloveka [Human editing]. Chelovek [The Man]. 2016. No. 3. P. 5—19. (In Russ.)