Bioprinting’s Introduction within the Context of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Malaysia’s Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 through the Right to Science

Abstract

Advances in bioprinting have enabled scientists to develop tissue and organs for the formation of artificial ears and noses, the treatment of injured joints because of arthritis, and the provision of medical care to people with disabilities. Malaysia’s disabled population can benefit from bioprinting because the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and Malaysia’s Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 (PDA 2008) both include an indirect right to science expressed through the promotion of research and development (R&D), technology transfer, and new technologies. This qualitative study aims to identify relevant provisions within the CRPD and PDA 2008 that could support bioprinting research. This study utilises a multidisciplinary approach that combines biomedicine, law, and the social sciences. It analyses the travaux préparatoires of CRPD negotiations, the CRPD, the PDA 2008, and related documents for clues that negotiators once considered as the right to science. The results show that the travaux préparatoires of CRPD negotiations refer to biomedicine, while Article 4(1) (g)–(h) of the CRPD and Articles 9(1) (k) and 33(3) of the PDA 2008 refer to R&D, new technologies, and technology transfer, all of which indirectly imply the right to science and enable the introduction of bioprinting.