LEGAL AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF GENOME EDITING IN EU

Biotechnological inventions have considerably advanced over the last decade. The improvement brought to the light ethical issues related to these inventions. The ethical issues are broad, therefore the research is narrowed to ethics of genome editing in the EU. The ethical views of genome editing are developing alongside the betterment of science. Are human's ethics towards to genome editing unchanged? Is there a shift towards to genome editing in specific cases? The research focuses on the view of the European Group on Ethics and its possible impact on biotechnological inventions based on genome editing. The first chapter explains the methods of genome editing and cross-cutting aspects of ethics. The second chapter focuses on ethical issues of genome editing in plants, the third chapter maps ethics of genome editing in animals and the fourth chapter deliberates ethics of genome editing in humans. The conclusion assesses the current ethics of genome editing in EU derived from the Opinion of European Group on Ethics. The article addresses legal issues related to genome editing within the EU. It discusses the prohibition of patenting biotechnological inventions based on genome editing, analyzing the impact of ethical aspects on legislation in the fields of patents and biotechnology. Particular attention is given to the legal status of human embryos, laws on animal experimentation, and the regulation of genetic modifications in the context of biodiversity and bioethics.