CRISPR States: Genome Editing As A Biopolitical Means - Archive ouverte HAL
Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2020

CRISPR States: Genome Editing As A Biopolitical Means

Résumé

This paper argues that there is a missing discussion over the role of State actors in defining and wielding the power conferred by genome editing. The political struggle over genome editing since the CRISPR-Cas9 “breakthrough” has so far brought into play epistemic communities which stemmed from prior controversies. The categorization debate over genome-edited plants in Europe (should those be considered as GMOs or not) has been led by Green activists who had been fighting the patenting of vegetal traits for more than thirty years. The germline editing debate has mostly seen the re-enactment of the prior abortion, in-vitro fertilization (IVF), pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) debates by similar social actors. Yet the biopolitical implications of genome editing for State actors is seldom being discussed. When S. Jasanoff asks “to what extent are we designers and engineers of ourselves and our own futures?”, the crucial question is who is the “we”. While we are all entitled to have a say in formulating our ideal future in a world where somewhere exists a capacity to edit genomes, the role of the State as an actor wielding genome editing as one of the tools to enforce its claim on monopolizing violence must also be discussed. This requires editing the concepts underlying contemporary conceptions of biopolitics, and particularly the concept of bare life, and vice versa how biopolitics provide a specific framing for coping with the issues raised by genome editing.
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Dates et versions

hal-04637735 , version 1 (07-07-2024)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04637735 , version 1

Citer

Guillaume Levrier. CRISPR States: Genome Editing As A Biopolitical Means. 4S/EEAST 2020, Aug 2020, Online, France. ⟨hal-04637735⟩
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