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A fifth of your genes belong to someone else
by NotPhil | January 12, 2008 at 04:25 pm | 632 views | 3 comments
the U.S. Patent Office has given various labs, companies and
universities the rights to 20% of the genes found in everyone’s DNA — with some disturbing results. Many U.S. labs won’t perform certain genetic tests because of patent restrictions or fees. One company that holds a license for a gene connected with Alzheimer’s has refused to let other labs work on its gene. The company that “owns” a genetic mutation for breast cancer charges up to $3,000 for a breast-cancer gene test.
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January 12, 2008 at 04:25 pm by NotPhil, 632 views, 3 comments
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Comments (3)
at 02:52 on January 13th, 2008
NotPhil, this is a disturbing yet not completely unexpected turn of events. The purpose for any company patenting a product or process, in this case, human genes, is for exclusive proprietary rights for profit. I raised this concern in this article I wrote some time ago.
at 05:27 on January 13th, 2008
You did a lot of research, and you raised some genuine concerns. But I think the issue is slightly different.
The problem isn't that companies are patenting a process that they invented, it's them patenting a substance already found, in nature, and then holding it for ransom, just because they could describe it before anyone else.
Patents are supposed to reward inventors for procedures that no one else had thought of before, and only for a limited time. Genes are not the property of corporations. They're a fact of nature. Companies shouldn't be able to profit from that just because their lawyers are faster than anyone else's.
As you pointed out, the consequences of this sort of thing are human suffering for profit. We should know better than that by now.
at 01:24 on January 14th, 2008
Oh, I agree, NotPhil, 100%, regarding the ransom thing! If you could have heard me ranting when I learned of human genes being patented. Worst of all, as an insult to injury sort of bonus, genes that have been harvested from someone and then used for developing a treatment or pharmaceutical product won't even be compensated or cut in on the profits made from the use or sale of the product. Depending on the cost and whether the donor has medical insurance, they may not even be able to afford the treatment or the product!