The regulatory framework as a promotion of scientific-technological R+D+i in Argentina: gene editing and its geopolitical regulation

Abstract

Argentina was the first country in the world to establish that organisms resulting from new gene editing techniques (GE) would not be covered by the legislation for Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), as long as a first evaluation concludes that they do not have DNA from another species. This is relevant, because the evaluations to commercialize a GMO are so extensive and expensive that they are only accessible to a few multinational companies that monopolize fundamental innovation, licenses and derivative products. This regulatory simplification coincides with the discovery of techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9, which are much cheaper and simpler than previous ones, and have the potential to be developed with reduced research budgets. This paper analyses how the Argentine state uses biotechnology legislation to promote research, development and innovation (R&D&i), investigating the limits and possibilities of this strategy. It is based on the relevant legislation and public policies; observations at biotech meetings and conferences; and in semi-structured interviews with scientists and entrepreneurs working with CRISPR, held during 2019. Thus, it finds that the legislation works to promote local development, but the advantages offered by the new gene editing techniques depend on a series of geopolitical actions and strategies. Understanding regulation as the set of actions and omissions of interested actors, on a global scale and with conflicting interests, the research concludes that it is this geopolitical regulation that conditions biotechnological innovation in Argentina. Thus, the possibility of taking advantage of this “window of opportunity” enabled by the new techniques, rests on a series of variables that configure new relationships of global interdependence.