Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Law Professor: Genetic Engineering Is (Probably) Protected By the First Amendment

Posted by samzenpus on from the build-it-your-way dept.

Jason Koebler writes: The dawn of cheap genome editing techniques such as CRISPR understandably have people across the political spectrum worried about what a future of designer babies, more pathogenic viruses, deextincted species, clones, and glow-in-the-dark sushi might look like. But does putting limits on genetic engineering violate scientists' constitutional rights? The First Amendment has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to encompass not just the freedom of speech, but also the freedom of expression and expressive conduct, which likely includes acts of science, according to Alta Charo, a bioethicist and law professor at University of Wisconsin Law School, who says that science is inherently political.

8 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. science is inherently political. by turkeydance · · Score: 3, Insightful

    just wanted to emphasize by repetition.

    1. Re:science is inherently political. by PlusFiveTroll · · Score: 2

      Until you have unlimited energy, unlimited storage, and unlimited time, science is going to be political.

      There are unlimited truths out there, you have to somehow decide what and where the available resources you have will be expended. One person may not want to die from old age, another wants to avoid dying of AIDS. Now you have a conflict for resources based on differing goals. How are you going to decide who gets the funding?

  2. Yeah right. by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 3, Insightful

    By that interpretation blowing up the moon is protected speech.

  3. All things are political by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All things of note are inherently political. If they involve more than one person with their own ideas and opinions, there's going to be politics. The world is a lumpy place.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:All things are political by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ...there's going to be politics. The world is a lumpy place.

      This is the very thing that makes the playing field unlevel. There will be some nations, particularly in the West, concerned with restricting and regulating these genome-altering experiments.

      Caution will rule the day in many legislations, but there will be exceptions, and because of the ever present arms race, even the cautious nations will be tempted to ignore their own imposed limitations. As always.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

  4. That's ridiculous by dskoll · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think some types of genetic engineering such as, say, creating a strain of HIV that's as easily transmissible as the common cold, would be the scientific equivalent of shouting "Fire!" in a crowded room and are thus not protected forms of expression.

  5. Peaceably assemble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not Pieceably assemble...

  6. So would building a bomb in a basement? by Chrisq · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So would building a bomb in a basement be an expression of free speech? After all it could be fundamentally saying "I think XXX should be blown up"! The Muslims will be pleased.