[emersonbiggins]

(Lifted from DailyKos...)

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')size=150]One-Fifth of Human Genes Have Been Patented, Study Reveals[/size]

Stefan Lovgren
for National Geographic News

October 13, 2005
A new study shows that 20 percent of human genes have been patented in the United States, primarily by private firms and universities.

The study, which is reported this week in the journal Science, is the first time that a detailed map has been created to match patents to specific physical locations on the human genome.

Researchers can patent genes because they are potentially valuable research tools, useful in diagnostic tests or to discover and produce new drugs.

"It might come as a surprise to many people that in the U.S. patent system human DNA is treated like other natural chemical products," said Fiona Murray, a business and science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, and a co-author of the study.

"An isolated DNA sequence can be patented in the same manner that a new medicine, purified from a plant, could be patented if an inventor identifies a [new] application."
...
Link to rest of NG Article

[Daculling]

So can we still make copies for personal use?

[emersonbiggins]

I just left $4,000 on the carpet! [/frat boy]

[Kooka]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ElijahJones', 'I') think the DNA info should be funded and held by the government so that it is available to all, a public service. Then if those who work with it want to patent various processes that make use of it that's fine.

[The_Toecutter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') just left $4,000 on the carpet!

[MacG]

Allowing patents on human genes is stupid and annoying, but it's not forever. Patents last for 18 years and that's it. Although the hubris seem limitless in some companies, I doubt that they could claim copyright on human genes....