A lawsuit aims to take back ownership over your genome from the corporations that claim the construction - blocks of liveliness as their property . But is it already too tardy ?
Since 1980 , when the U.S. Supreme Court first ruled that a living ( but modified ) organism could be patented , the Patent and Trademark Office has grant more than 50,000 patent to companies for pieces of the human genetic computer code .
By now , many of your genes are not your own — they go to companies and to the for - earnings arms of universities , who habituate their 20 - year lease over your genes to overwork them for research and , in most pillowcase , to prevent other companies from doing any competing research . The American Civil Liberties Union recently filed a lawsuitagainst a pharmaceutical ship’s company and the University of Utah to get the rights to your genes back .
The lawsuit against Myriad Genetics and the University of Utah involves their patent rights over the BCRA-1 and BCRA-2 gene , which give them the exclusive right wing to test cleaning woman for the presence of those genes , which are strongly correlated with incidence of breast and ovarian genus Cancer . The patent of invention over the transmitted markers means that no other test can be developed or utilized by cleaning woman seek to regulate whether they have the factor and are susceptible to cancer .
A gene letters patent yield its owner the single right field , for up to 20 years , to control its use for medical research , diagnosis or treatment .
“ A gene patent bearer has the rightfulness to prevent anyone from studying , examination or even looking at a cistron , ” the ACLU causa protest . “ As a resolution , scientific research and genetic examination has been delayed , special or even close down due to concerns about gene patents . ”
It ’s not that they inevitably want women to continue to be stricken with genus Cancer , they just do n’t want anyone else to make any money off of it , as long as they are .
Congress is regard ( as it has closely every session for the last several year ) change to existing patent law that would make it easier to register — and to win — patent of invention challenges . In the interim , corporation will retain to hold the solitary legal rights to more than 4,382 human genes that you carry in your DNA aright now . But I ’m sure they can be trusted with that responsibility .
Patenting human genes thwarts research , scientists say[McClatchy ]
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