Dangerous Science, Anticipation and the Human Right to Science

Recent years have seen the emergence of dual-use technologies and, more generally, of scientific research pertaining to technologies that are potentially beneficial to humanity, but that may also harm it in a serious, lasting, and possibly even irreversible way (e.g. genomic editing, geoengineering, or AI). Faced with ‘dangerous science’ – so defined –, the issue of adequate types and content of duties and responsibilities for anticipating both the potential benefits and harms of such science has become more pressing. One framework from which States may derive duties and responsibilities to anticipate both the potential harms and benefits of such science is the human right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications, as well as to participate in that progress, under Article 15(1)(b) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (often referred to as the ‘human right to science’). Not only, indeed, does that right include (i) everyone’s right to access and participate in the scientific enterprise and its organization, and (ii) to access and participate in the benefits of scientific progress, but (iii) it also constitutes a right to be protected against the adverse effects of science. Interestingly, while some duties and responsibilities of scientific anticipation grounded in the human right to science have been briefly mentioned in recent interpretations of this right by United Nations’ rapporteurs and bodies, their specific content, scope, and bearers are still to be fully addressed, and their key potential to drive reform of the precaution-prevention paradigm has yet to be fully leveraged, including through international cooperation. This lecture explores the comparative advantages of the anticipation of duties and responsibilities grounded in the human right to science though a critical examination of the existing international environmental law regime for anticipating the potential harms and benefits of marine geoengineering.