ABSTRACT
The notion of absolute rights of private property is totally inconsistent with the notion of intergenerational fairness, which is a human rights concept only beginning to emerge. International law is even slower to respond to the threats posed by technology to human rights. States which have a vested interest in the particular technology under discussion will tend to oppose any international attempt to regulate it. The deep concern felt by the developing world in regard to the misuse of science and technology was reflected at various conferences commencing in the 1970s. Global studies of the impact of technology on human rights need to take note of the dimension of the problems posed by modern science and technology. In the late 1960s, the United Nations awakened to the dangers posed to human rights by advances in technology. The chapter considers some of the areas of danger under the separate heads of the human body, human society and the human environment.
