Can Corporations Own Your DNA?
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/13/eveningnews/main5012149.shtml
It's hard to believe, but private companies hold the patent rights to some of the genes in your body. The companies say the patents help them develop new treatments for serious diseases. But this week, a group of cancer patients and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit claiming the patents put them in danger.After facing and surviving breast cancer, Genae Gerard simply had to know more. A widely available genetic test - known as the BRAC test - revealed that she carried the gene BRCA 2, which also put her at higher risk for ovarian cancer.
When she tried to look for an alternate test for a second opinion, she learned no that other tests are permitted.
"You cannot get a second opinion on the BRAC testing because there's only one company that does it," Gerard said. "That's the problem."
That one company, Utah-based Myriad, doesn't just own the test. It was able to patent the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 - the genes most often linked to breast and ovarian cancer. And owning the patent essentially means that Myriad owns the genes themselves.
"Common sense should tell everybody that it's wrong to allow a private company to own a body part," ACLU attorney Chris Hansen said.
In what could be a landmark lawsuit, the ACLU is challenging the private ownership of body parts.
Today an estimated 20 percent of all human genes have been patented, including some linked to Alzheimer's disease and cystic fibrosis, and the lawsuit argues that private ownership is restricting - not helping - the invention of new therapies.
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Saladin
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You CANNOT patent genes, that's absurd.
That's like patenting a certain wavelength of light.
It's NOT YOURS, you didn't create it nor is it even feasible that you should be compensated for its reproduction.
- 9 months ago
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Saladin
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nursediesel
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The company holding a patent on a partiular disease causing gene is unethical. I understand they are protecting the time and effort they have put into the work as well, as their discovery but it is unethical to not allow the progress of treatment and cure for a disease or it's process.
- 9 months ago
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nursediesel
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nursediesel
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IMHO, I do not believe a corporation should be allowed to hold a patent on an individuals DNA.
Here's where the fine line between ethical and legal become an issue. The corp. should be able to hold the patent on what they derive from the DNA as long as it is not a replication of that exact DNA, including clones and children (embryos, fetuses etc.); even though they are only 50% of the DNA.
It again becomes dicey when you get to the property of the placenta.
Stem cells derived from an individual for treatment of that individual should remain the person property but the party can sign a document allowing the use of the stem cells to aid in recovery of other individuals....
You would need a non-partial advocate attorney to represent the person the DNA biologically belongs to for clear and accurate representation so that individual knows exactly what they are signing.
Scary, right? You could have little mini-me's out there running around looking for their roots. - 9 months ago
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nursediesel
