Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T11:22:50.022Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - What Is Genome Editing?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2021

Paul Enríquez
Affiliation:
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Get access

Summary

Socrates, the renowned philosopher, famously averred that “the beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.” The veracity of that ageless quip is, of course, debatable from a rhetorical standpoint. The definition of terms may or may not mark the genesis of wisdom but, rest assured, conceptual reflection of term definitions indisputably constitutes a crucial early step in legal construction and interpretation. This chapter focuses on a simple, yet fundamental, question that remains unaddressed in modern literature: What exactly is genome editing? To that end, the chapter lays an interpretive and normative foundation that imports meaning into the term’s scope. It starts by highlighting how scientific literature has remarkably devoted substantial efforts to discuss ways to develop, use, improve, and expand the technology without actually attaching a particular meaning to the term. After exposing limitations associated with the use of dictionaries in legal analysis, the chapter argues that congruity and uniformity on genome-editing terminology is sorely needed now due to the increasing interdisciplinary reach of the technology. Accordingly, it advocates for the adoption of a unified definition of genome editing. The proposed definition undergoes rigorous analysis and, along the way, the chapter dispels the myth that law generally lags behind scientific progress.

Type
Chapter
Information
Rewriting Nature
The Future of Genome Editing and How to Bridge the Gap Between Law and Science
, pp. 69 - 110
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×