The engineered athlete: Human rights in the genetic revolution

The genetic revolution is characterized by a host of ethical and social issues that are drawing attention across a multitude of disciplines. Not least of these is how knowledge about the human genome will impact upon the application of human rights. It is becoming increasingly apparent that conventional human rights do not suitably protect the new kinds of human that are emerging as a result of a plethora of new and prospective genetic techniques. Moreover, the very sanctity of the human species is often deemed to be under threat as a result of such technology. The significance of this is made explicit in the recently drafted Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Within this document, UNESCO urges for the application of such technology to respect human dignity and to ensure the protection of individuals from such effects as genetic discrimination that might derive from being engineered. Additionally, emerging literature is endeavouring to address how human rights can be sustained in an age of genetic engineering. Most notably, this discourse has been informed by the recent text edited by Justine Burley, which comprises the 1998 Amnesty International lectures of Oxford University. However, the situation remains a moral minefield through which genetic technologies must navigate if they are to gain any kind of legitimacy.