Legal Nature and Content of the Individual Right to Biological Safety in the Russian Federation

Aim. To analyze the legal nature and content of the individual right to biological safety in the Russian Federation

Methodology. A complex of general scientific and private scientific methods was a methodological basis of the study, application of which made it possible to achieve the set goal and solving specific research tasks. The formal-legal (dogmatic) method was a main tool of analysis. With its help, the definition of key concepts («biological safety», «individual right», «biological risk») was carried out, the method allowed to identify gaps and collisions in the regulatory definition of biological safety, particularly the narrowing of the circle of protected subjects. The comparative legal method was used to compare the normative approach to defining the right to biological safety with the positions presented in modern Russian legal doctrine. It made it possible to both prove complex nature of the individual right to biological safety and to substantiate its independent character. In both cases the method was a systematic approach.

Results. It is substantiated that the individual right to biological security has a complex content that includes general and specific elements based on fundamental principles, which necessitates the development and specification of the system of principles of biopower. The principles of biological security should be considered as an independent block that contributes to the development of objective and individual right to biological security. It is concluded that the current regulatory definition of biological security, as stated in Federal Law № 492, is insufficiently relevant in the context of current challenges. It has been revealed that the main drawback of the current definition is the narrowing of the range of protected subjects to abstract collective entities such as «the population» and «the environment». A definition of the category «the right to biological safety» has been proposed.

Research implications. The significance lies in the fact that the legitimization of a comprehensive individual right to biological security will transform the current paradigm, in which the individual is primarily an object of protection, into a system in which the individual is an active legal participant in the biological security system, ultimately increasing the effectiveness of countering biological threats at the national level.

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