Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2007

OCLC FAST subject heading

Environment law

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an explosion in the genetic manipulation of living organisms to create commercial products. This genetic manipulation has, in effect, been a directed change in the evolutionary process for the purpose of profit. This deliberate alteration of the path of evolution has brought with it a panoply of novel environmental, human health, and economic risks that could not have been foreseen when U.S. environmental and health protection laws evolved. U.S. environmental law has not evolved to keep pace with these dramatic changes in the evolution of our biological systems. Thus, completely new approaches are needed to address these novel issues.

The thesis of this Article is that a new legal approach, which draws on principles of evolutionary biology, is needed to address the novel risks of environmental harm caused by man's intervention in and manipulation of evolution through the development of GMOs.

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