Sheffield Institute of Biotechnological Law and Ethics, UK

Mrs. Kuan-Ting Chi is a full-time research student at the law department of the Sheffield Institute of Biotechnological Law and Ethics, UK. She is now also a part-time research assistant for the EU project: Sustainable Introduction of GMOs into European Agriculture. Her research interest lies mainly on the liability and redress issues caused by the release of GMOs. This involves the ongoing debate of environmental liability and international regulatory mechanism. She is examining existing liability theories and practice, especially the socio-economic aspect of liability regimes. Prior to her study at Sheffield, Mrs. Chi worked as a consultant of high-tech policies and a commissioner of the Certification Authority Accreditation Committee for the Taiwanese government.

One of the biggest challenges from emerging technology to the legal system is the increasing scientific uncertainty.  The lack of data and consensus regarding the risks of new technology often make the proof of causation very difficult.  This has led to serious gap in health and safety regulation and under-compensation for people whose health has been adversely affected. There have been numerous legal proposals to deal with risk and causation issues; however, there is no consensus, nor consistency.  The increasing complexity in both technology and relevant laws has made it very difficult for lay people to understand how much and in what ways human rights has been distorted through such procedural inefficiency.  In this paper, the author outlines current rules and proposals that deals with scientific uncertainty in law, and illustrate though cases how human rights have been distorted through these problematic procedures.