Diy biology and biohacking: Socio-legal aspect

The article deals with the phenomenon of DIY biology and socio-legal matters. Due to the development of genetic technologies and their general availability to DIY biology practitioners, the authors propose to distinguish genetic hacking as a kind of DIY biology. Based on the principle of precaution, the authors propose a set of legal measures against the negative consequences of DIY biology. At the current stage of generic hacking culture, the authors conclude that the non-medical application of genetic technologies is impermissible. The authors attempt to distinguish between DIY biology and biohacking. Despite several common points, these are independent social phenomena that have different social and legal consequences. Methods: The methods of comparative analysis, synthesis, structural and functional analysis, and statistical analysis are used in the study. The purpose of the study is to discover the positive and negative sides of DIY biology and define genetic hacking, as well as offenses related to hacking. Results: Due to high risks related to the non-medical application of medical technologies for modification of body and mind, the authors have concluded that DIY biology negatively impacts the health and life of humans and sometimes the environment and the biosphere. A distinction has been made between such categories as DIY biology and biohacking, genetic hacking. The risks of non-medical application of genetic technologies have been studied. © 2020, Institute of Advanced Scientific Research, Inc.. All rights reserved.