Rights-Based Reforms of the Governance of Human Heritable Gene Editing and a Call for International Scientific Cooperation

The question of the legal permissibility of heritable gene editing techniques is unsettled. The international consensus opposes clinical research and applications involving germline modifications. Building on previous work, this paper examines how international human rights law, particularly human right to science standards, can inform the regulation of this controversial advancement. We present the normative content of the human right to science, apply it to the governance of heritable gene editing, and identify action points that States must take, as a matter of national law and international cooperation, to align the governance of heritable gene editing with human rights standards.