Cloning Trojan Horses: Precautionary Regulation of Reproductive Technologies
TILT Law & Technology Working Paper No. 004/2007
17 Pages Posted: 14 May 2015
Date Written: November 29, 2007
Abstract
This paper concerns the fundamental question whether we should allow human enhancement techniques in the pursuit of individual happiness and, more particularly, if the so-called 'precautionary principle' has a role to play in pointing us in the direction of answers to that question. On the basis of a case study focusing on modern reproductive technologies such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (pgd), the argument takes the form of a dual challenge to precautionary regulation of reproductive technologies.
First, based on a theoretical analysis of the precautionary principle, it will be argued that most justifications for precautionary regulation of reproductive technologies are tenuous at best. This conclusion is reached on the basis of a distinction between 'fact-finding' precaution, 'deliberative' precaution, and 'enabling' precaution.
Second, based on the normative assumption that employment of precaution in similar cases should at the very least give rise to similar impacts on regulatory tilt (i.e. towards permissiveness or rather towards restrictions), empirical evidence strongly suggests that the use of precaution is likely to give rise to the arbitrary exercise of regulatory powers.
Keywords: regulation, reproductive technologies, biotechnology, reproductive, technologies, precaution
JEL Classification: K10, K40
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation