¾«¶«Ó°Òµ College Fellow Dr Rumiana Yotova delivered the Sixth Annual Heilbron Lecture for the Next 100 years Project in the Old Bailey in London earlier this month.
The Assistant Professor in International Law at the University of Cambridge and Director of Studies and Associate Professor in Law at Caius delved into the legal and ethical dilemmas posed by genome editing and emerging biotechnologies in a lecture titled Creation: The Human and Humanity in the Age of New Technologies. The lecture was hosted by Sheriff Gregory Jones KC, the City of London Corporation and KPMG.
The key points of the lecture explored: humans as creators – how new technologies like CRISPR Cas9 allow us not just to create life, but to shape the very essence of humanity; gene editing, which offers both hope for curing genetic diseases and raises concerns about unintended consequences, ethical boundaries, and unequal access; the inconsistency of national laws; and, the lack of a global treaty.
The lecture concluded with a call to action for action to achieve international consensus: Dr Yotova called for a new international agreement to set standards, protect future generations and ensure responsible governance, before technology outpaces regulation.
Dr Yotova is pictured with Baroness Shami Chakrabarti and Dana Denis-Smith OBE, and Sheriff Gregory Jones KC. Photo credit: Marcus Jamieson-Pond and Next 100 Years.
