There are ongoing concerns of social justice regarding inequalities in the distribution of access to potential genome editing technologies. Working within non-ideal theory, Colin Farrelly advances a justification for the use of patents to speed up the arrival of safe and effective interventions for all, including the socially disadvantaged. This paper argues that such success is less assured when one considers the actual functioning of patents and the practical implications of the patent system in the context of biotechnological innovations. I suggest that non-ideal theoretical approaches risk reverting back to a form of ideal theory if they simply refer to such real-world constraints — e.g. patents — but do not critically assess and fully examine how such constraints manifest themselves in practice. I highlight some considerations that would be important in order to develop and foster a more robust non-ideal approach to justice in biotechnological developments.

人们持续关注潜在基因组编辑技术的分配不平等问题。科林·法雷利在非理想理论的范围内提出了使用专利的理由，以加速为所有人（包括社会弱势群体）提供安全有效的干预措施。本文认为，当人们考虑专利的实际运作以及专利制度在生物技术创新背景下的实际影响时，这种成功就不太确定了。我认为，如果非理想理论方法只是参考此类现实世界的限制（例如专利），但没有批判性地评估和充分检查这些限制在实践中的表现方式，那么它们就有可能回归理想理论的风险。我强调了一些重要的考虑因素，以便在生物技术发展中制定和促进更强有力的非理想正义方法。