Islamic Legal Analysis

Legal and Jurisprudential Analysis of the Production of Transgenic Products

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Mehdi Khaghani Esfahani

Assistant Professor of Criminal Law & Criminology, The Institute for Research and Development in the Humanities (SAMT), Tehran, Iran.

Abstract
Criminal protection, through coercive prevention and punishment for crimes against water, is one of the factors preventing the aggravation of the agricultural crisis in Iran; A crisis that has increased the need to import agricultural products and food products with the decline of water resources and poor water management. The growth of imports of unsafe transgenics creates other crises with the unjustified preference for food security over the right to "healthy" food. The weakness of Iranian laws and 4legal procedures in protecting the rights of consumers of transgenic products necessitates a crime aimed at protecting food security in the face of the growing need for transgenics in the water crisis. From a jurisprudential point of view, the arguments in favor of the production of transgenic food products seem stronger, and support the alignment of criminal policy in not criminalizing these products. What has been suggested by the opponents of the production of food transgenics as a reason for opposition is more than a jurisprudential concern; Because conducting research on the genome (plant and animal, and consequently the human genome) may be accompanied by abuses that challenge human dignity. This article, in a descriptive-analytical manner, critiques the existing laws and regulations in the field of criminal protection of the two issues of water and biosafety in the consumption of food transgenics, a framework for criminalizing criminal behavior against the food supply chain with absolute responsibility. Or contains the presumption of criminal liability - provides. The purpose of this article is to critique the articles of the laws related to transgenic products and crimes against water, in order to hold the government and public and private legal entities responsible for enforcing and monitoring food safety laws, observing the "principle of minimum and limited intervention to the last resort".

Highlights

Iran's legislative criminal policy toward bioterrorism, the import and production of raw and processed transgenic agricultural products, and a wide range of crimes against food security for political, social, and economic purposes are ambiguous. A comprehensive plan to prevent and punish crimes against food security - which criminalizes conduct that violates the right to food security and acts that violate the right to health and healthy nutrition - has not yet been developed. Current criminal titles in Iranian criminal law are largely limited to hasty criminalization arising from specific situations such as imposed war and hoarding of basic goods or the fight against bioterrorism. The criminalization of similar behaviors in different laws, the uncertainty of the scope of instances of similar legal articles and interpretive disagreements in this regard, the obligation and prohibition of certain behaviors without providing punishment in cases of violations, disregard for unintentional crimes, guarantee of disproportionate performances And non-deterrent is the failure to specify, at least for some penalties, some shortcomings in criminal law on water protection, which exacerbate the water crisis and exacerbate the need to import transgenic food products. In terms of the capacity of criminal law to protect the "right to food security" (pro-transgenic approach) in a balanced way with criminal protection of the right to healthy food (anti-transgenic approach), criminalization of acts leading to The threat of physical access to food and the criminalization of crackdowns that hinder the development of nutritional knowledge, as well as the accountability of government bodies and authorities to sustainable food security, have been proposed to reform Iran's legislative criminal policy; Because in the current situation, none of the mentioned laws has explicitly criminalized issues related to the production or supply of unauthorized transgenics, and in order to identify the criminal responsibility of producers and suppliers of unauthorized transgenic products, it is necessary to comply with other titles related to health protection.

From the Islamic jurisprudential point of view, the reasons of the proponents, in spite of their differences, have a stronger position, and what has been put forward as a reason for opposition by genetic opponents to the cause is more of a jurisprudential concern than a reason; Because conducting research in the field of plant, animal and human genomes can be associated with abuses that undermine human dignity. Moreover, the necessity of following the jurisprudential arguments has shifted the view of the majority of jurists to another side, which can, while ensuring and protecting human dignity, also prevent possible abuses. The result is that from a jurisprudential as well as rational point of view, despite the differences of opinion of experts, rational preferences should be followed. If, despite the differences of opinion, there is no (preferred) point of advantage for a comment (which, of course, is not assumed here), the opinions of both groups of experts will be invalidated and referred to matters such as practical principles. Paying attention to the mentioned preferences in the subject of discussion will lead to the selection of expert opinions indicating the health of transgenic products.

 

Keywords

Transgenic legal system
biosafety offenses
duality of food security and food health

Article Title Persian

تحلیل حقوقی و فقهی تولید محصولات تراریخته

Author Persian

مهدی خاقانی اصفهانی
استادیار حقوق جزا و جرم شناسی، پژوهشکده تحقیق و توسعه علوم انسانی «سمت»، تهران، ایران
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