The Evil of Gene Patents
Comments: 4
BoingBoing just posted this astonishing story which I’m just cynical enough to take at face value (no one from Myriad seems to have been interviewed for the story so I’m sure there’s more to it than this, but we’ll see). I like to think I’m above such simple Manichaean responses, but this does indeed seem pure evil.
U.S. patent stops breast cancer testing
John Bermingham, The ProvinceA key breast cancer test can no longer be done in B.C. because an American company has the gene patent.
Utah-based Myriad Genetics Inc. has put a patent on two genes that can signal whether a woman may develop hereditary breast cancer.
Dr. Simon Sutcliffe, who runs the B.C. Cancer Agency, said 200 of the tests are now being routed annually to Ontario, which is ignoring the patent.
The agency used to do its own tests until the B.C. government recently ordered it to stop after legal threats by Myriad.
Myriad now wants $3,500 US for the blood test, three times what it used to cost the province.
The story notes that about 10,000 patents relating to the human body have been filed worldwide.
•••
Posted to Oh, the Humanity • 2002.10.23 (Wed) • 01:28
Comments
Posted by trotsky 2003.07.21, 00:40
human body patents suck arse :6
Posted by mindless 2003.09.11, 04:13
Is it legal to patent organic matter? I thought that a patent was only obtainable if you had in fact invented or created something or had a theory. Genes are living tissue. You can’t patent me so who are you to tell me that I can’t have my genes tested?
Of course, the test or the test method could probably be patented.
Posted by José Geraldo Gouvêa 2003.11.30, 03:22
That’s scary too, when you think that Monsanto and others are making GM seeds that’ll be used in agriculture. After the crop, the farmer is not allowed to keep part of the grains to sow the next year, if he does he is “stealing”. Just think how much misery and poverty this will cause in the third world and re-evaluate your conception that the US government seeks to help manking and fight poverty. and btw… MS sucks!
Posted by Matthew Albright 2004.02.06, 15:47
Gene patents, and plant patents, are one of the quiet swindles going on that we never hear about. Another part of it is the patenting of actual diseases: tuberculosis, staph, and lately SARS are all being patented (their genomes are being patented, which means that companies and universities are not sharing basic info about the diseases). I started researching the stuff a few years ago and couldn’t believe it. This month, Common Courage Press published my book on the subject: “Profits Pending: How Life Patents Represent the Biggest Swindle of the 21st Century.” (Sorry for that commercial interruption - I am hoping the book will ignite more widespread conversation about patents…)
Post a comment:
*
* (not displayed)
Remember personal info?
(optional)
* Required
You can use basic HTML below, but URLs don't link automatically.
Make HTML-safe: convert
To help reduce comment spam, you must preview your comment before posting. Sorry about this, but I'm borderline homicidal with the spam crap.
Send This Story to an Enemy
• • •