Regulating the Revolution: Democratic Deliberation and Biotechnology

The 2012 discovery of CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary gene editing tool, embroiled scientists, ethicists, policymakers, and patient advocates in seemingly intractable conversations regarding the moral, social, and political implications of editing DNA. Simultaneously, the regulatory and governance environment into which the technology was introduced required modification to address its moral and safety risks. Naomi Scheinerman uses CRISPR-Cas9 as a case study to theorize a political process geared toward aiding the ethical and responsible regulation of technological innovation. Building on years of work by bioethicists and in response to calls for broader participation in legislative law-making, Scheinerman offers a direct intervention and justification for how “the people” can and should engage in democratic deliberation during regulatory rulemaking within the administrative state.

Scheinerman develops and defends a democratic regulatory framework that integrates the important authorities of both experts and non-experts, the goals of prudential and moral decision-making, and the connection between regulating the market with downstream goals of justice and equality to shape a more ethical future.