New Technologies and Human Rights

In an era increasingly dominated by new technologies there are many calls for regulation to control their application. This timely contribution reviews and develops the role of human rights in the regulation of new technologies discussing how rights are affected by technological development, and how they can be used to improve regulation.

The first IVF baby was born in the 1970s. Less than 20 years later, we had cloning and GM food, and information and communication technologies had transformed everyday life. In 2000, the first map of the human genome was sequenced. More recently, there has been much discussion of the economic and social benefits of nanotechnology, and synthetic biology has also been generating controversy. This important volume is a timely contribution to increasing calls for regulation - or better regulation - of these and other new technologies. Drawing on an international team of legal scholars, it reviews and develops the role of human rights in the regulation of new technologies. Three controversies at the intersection between human rights and new technology are given particular attention. First, are human rights contributing to the creation of a brave new world of choice, where human dignity is fundamentally compromised? Second, are new technologies a threat to human rights? Finally, can human rights create better regulation of these technologies?