Examining the Biosafety of Living Modified Organisms from a Human Rights Perspective

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph. D. Candidate in Public law, Faculty of Law, University of Qom, Qom, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Human Rights and Environmental Law, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

10.22091/ijicl.2022.7651.1005

Abstract

Biotechnology as a modern-day phenomenon has had profound effects in various fields such as agriculture, health, and the environment. However, there are some concerns among scientists about the potential impacts of products resulting from the technology of living modified organisms (LMOs) on biodiversity and human health. This has led to the development of a set of rules and regulations known as biosafety to ensure the safety of these products under the Cartagena Protocol to the 1992 UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Biosafety can be considered as an approach to protect biodiversity and human health from potential threats while benefiting from the benefits of biotech products. From a human rights perspective, there seems to be a direct link between this field and biosafety, and there are many common concepts in both areas. The article seeks to examine the role of biosafety in human rights protection and examines how human rights can be protected to answer this question. In this analytical study, through studying the literature and primary sources, the role of biosafety in the protection of human rights has been analyzed and criticized from different aspects. The results show that biosafety can be considered a way to balance between different human rights and socio-economic considerations and the way of applying the precautionary principle have an important role in achieving this goal.

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Iranian Journal of International and Comparative Law
Volume 1, Issue 2
July 2023
Pages 136-149

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