Challenges of Compensation Lawsuits for Environmental Damages Caused by Biotechnology Products

Advances in genetic engineering and modern biotechnology, through which a new state is produced or modified by making changes in a living organism, however, the unfamiliarity of biotechnological aspects and effects can cause damages to the environment, while the claim for such damages necessitates filing a lawsuit by the aggrieved party in the competent authority against the person who is responsible or liable, and also proving the damage and verifying the causal relationship between the damage and the harmful act. Nevertheless, the special characteristics of environmental damages and products of biotechnology, such as very late appearance, have caused the principles and methods of dealing with such cases completely different from the majority of cases. Indeed, it has created certain problems and challenges in practice. So that, despite the existence of general laws such as the Civil Liability Law and the Civil Procedure Law, as well as the establishment of special ones such as the Biosafety Law, there are still legal gaps and ambiguities in the field. The purpose of current study is to investigate and resolve these ambiguities

The issue was investigated in a descriptive and analytical way using a library resource.

Ethical Considerations: 

During the research process, important principles such as trustworthiness and ethics have been preserved ocation and will be subject to its rules and effects. For the case of legislative equivocation, a solution can be sought in light of the principle of proportionality.

The necessity of Establishment an organization as a legal representative of society members to file a related claim; apply the theory of pure responsibility to determine the liable person and compensate the mentioned damages and requirement of special courts for filing of such lawsuits.

After examining the functions of biotechnology and its risks in different fields, it was concluded that they can sometimes produce several environmental problems as well. As a result, challenges such as finding out the plaintiff, the defendant and the liable person, or determining the government as the defendant or the obligor and also naming the competent authority and issuing a temporary order were identified. Finally, we came to this conclusion that due to the spread of losses among many victims and the impossibility of filing a lawsuit by each one of them, it would be better to establish an organization as a legal representative of society members for determining the plaintiff. So that in certain laws, such as the Environmental Protection and Improvement Law approved in 1974, the necessity of the issue was sporadically foreseen, and due to the complexity of such damages, it is better to apply the theory of pure responsibility to determine the liable person and compensate the mentioned damages. In addition, in cases where it is not possible to compensate the damage by the person causing the damage (such as failure to identify the liable person) for any reason, the government, as the protector of public interests, will be obliged to compensate the damage. Therefore, the filing of such lawsuits, considering their importance and complexity, requires special courts.