The Legal Governance of Animal Biotechnologies

Abstract

This chapter seeks to give an overview of governance approaches to animal biotechnologies. It will identify common themes and trends. The law is in most cases a domestic affair and it would be outside the remit of this chapter if it sought to analyse the legal situation in any number of states. The German and the European regulatory frameworks will be used by way of an illustration how institutions and normative concepts are connected and interact, but this will be put in the greater context of understanding regulation. The aim of this chapter is, therefore, to give the reader an overview over the structure of the governance landscape, the issues and challenges and the approaches to deal with these. Nevertheless, the difficulties in encompassing the reality of how we use animals, and need to use animals, and our moral perception of animals are a common theme which we need to be aware of to understand how the regulation described in this chapter functions and how norms and institutions interact. The chapter will initially outline the different frameworks and institutions which play a role in the legal governance of animal biotechnologies. Afterwards, it will look at how governance works in this field, before discussing how the law approaches animal biotechnologies. Finally, the chapter will take a look at issue after the market introduction of an animal biotechnology before drawing some conclusions.