In spite of the difficulties inherent in trying to establish a legal framework for the practices linked to bioethics, the internet and dangerous substances, decision-makers have had to step in to regulate these practices. Indeed, they are continuing to devise specific legal measures. However, a systematic study of the said measures shows that to control techno scientific development, French and international authorities alike have, since the nineteen seventies, made numerous changes, sometimes extreme, to the legal mechanisms that constitute the foundations of the law-making process. First of all it was necessary to modify the organisation and workings of advisory bodies so as to guarantee more independence, greater their influence on the social groups concerned and increase their level of cooperation. Another crucial change was to redefine the status of scientific rationality in the elaboration of legal documents and at the same time reiterate the need to embrace citizens’ viewpoints. Finally, it had to be accepted that the legal norms themselves would reflect the interpretations of institutional parties from different legal systems with limited room for collaboration. All in all, even if it is possible to rationalise certain stages of the law-making process, the uncertainty surrounding the emergence of the legal norm is such that it cannot be likened to an end-product in the manufacturing process.
