You Don't 'Own' Your Own Genes 293
olePigeon (Wik) writes "Cornell University's New York based Weill Cornell Medical College issued a press release today regarding an unsettling trend in the U.S. patent system: Humans don't "own" their own genes, the cellular chemicals that define who they are and what diseases for which they might be at risk. Through more than 40,000 patents on DNA molecules, companies have essentially claimed the entire human genome for profit, report Dr. Christopher E. Mason of Weill Cornell Medical College, and the study's co-author, Dr. Jeffrey Rosenfeld, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey and a member of the High Performance and Research Computing Group, who analyzed the patents on human DNA. Their study, published March 25 in the journal Genome Medicine, raises an alarm about the loss of individual 'genomic liberty.'"
Patent Office Is Screwing Up Again (Score:5, Insightful)
Somebody is massively and badly f*cking up, somewhere.
Re:Upcoming supreme court case (Score:3, Insightful)
If they don't throw out the patents, does that mean people with the mutation who do develop cancer have standing to sue the company then since they have patents on those genes?
Here is a way to fix this (Score:5, Insightful)
Find a company which "owns" a gene that controls some specific disease, like a cancer. Now, everyone with that disease files a lawsuit against the patent holder. They own it, they should be liable for the damages it is causing by being released into the general population. By claiming a patent, this implies invention, therefore we can infer liability!
After a few multi-million dollar lawsuit awards, no one would want to "own" a gene. Problem solved.
Re:Derivative Works (Score:5, Insightful)
I find it odd they could patent something they didn't invent.
Re:Derivative Works (Score:5, Insightful)
Really, they can't. They can patent their usage by some method, such as a diagnostic test. That's just how patents work.
The headline is just a bit of sensationalism.
Re:Upcoming supreme court case (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you would find many here on /. that shares your lament over how corporations behave like psychopath along with how a few sociopaths have long controlled the mainstream masses due to power/greed/lust/control but aren't you being just a _tad_ pessimistic??
Considering the fact that the western world has running water, don't have to risk life nor limb for their daily food, the majority has a relatively safe place to sleep, we can learn the past few _thousand_ years of Mathematics, Science, and Philosophy all within roughly 10-20 years, not to mention all the cool tech the average person has access to (such as the ability to communicate long distances) the human race is "overall" in a better place then it was 50,000 years ago. No?
The fundamental root problems with humanity is two-fold:
* an archaic belief that there is never enough, and
* fear which manifests in many forms: greed, power, control, etc.
It took how many thousands of years to ... ??
* be allowed to believe a different philosophy without getting killed (religion)
* be allowed to write a different philosophy without getting killed (censorship)
* to grow the fuck up and out-law ownership of another person (slavery)
Heck one guy said "Can't we all just get along. We can and we should." and was nailed to a tree for pointing out the flaw in human nature.
So why are you all that surprised that we have [yet] to learn the final lessons?? Namely:
* The Basis of Civilization is built upon Sharing,
* When we stop blaming/allowing others to control us and take personal responsibility; when we realize the truth:
"We are our own government", and
* "Grow the fuck up" and become civilized by not treating our fellow man/woman with less respect / honor / love that we should be treating everyone as our father / mother / brother / sister
Ultimately, humans will learn the secret ingredient:
That the purpose of the universe is a dynamic feedback system designed to teach; namely, at the end of the day it is all about one thing:
Relationships.
--
Only cowards use censorship.
Re:Derivative Works (Score:5, Insightful)
Our immune system already enforces a "no derivatives" clause. Procreation is only possible with an elaborate workaround that keeps the immune system from noticing what's going on.
Re:Derivative Works (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Derivative Works (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Derivative Works (Score:5, Insightful)
That's something we already know. It's how humans got viral genes [discovermagazine.com], how cows got snake genes [nationalgeographic.com], how a sea slug got algae genes [newscientist.com], and how a pea aphid got fungal genes, [npr.org] among other known examples. It's pretty rare unless you're giving things an evolutionary time frame, and has little to do with genetic engineering, either in terms of scientific or patent related concerns.
Re:In that case (Score:5, Insightful)
Trying to cover just how much wrong you stuffed into that single sentence would be a task akin to cleaning the Agean Stables. That you say such a thing while you sit on your well-fed ass, in your warm home, taking access to all the 100% clean and safe water and food you could ever want for granted, wearing machine-woven cloth, sitting in front of a machine so incredible it would've been literally indistinguishable from magic 100 years ago (let alone 1000), leads to one of two conclusions:
Either you are a spoiled whinging twit posessed of an ignorance of history as stunning as your lack of perspective, or you are so stupid it's amazing that you remember how to breathe.