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Leading Scientists Call For Care With Gene Patents PARIS (AFP) - Private companies scrambling to patent chunks of the human genetic map should be thwarted, while the final data on the human genome should be made available to everyone who wishes to use it, two of the world's most prestigious scientists declared. Joining a debate that has already heard from US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the scientists stated in Nature magazine, "the human genome itself must be freely available to all humankind." Efforts to patent genetic sequences, wrote US National Academy of Sciences President Bruce Alberts and Britain's Royal Society President Sir Aaron Klug, "strikes us as contrary to the essence of patent law." According to the two scientists, universities or firms wishing to patent some of the 50,000 to 100,000 genes determining hereditary traits passed down from parents to offspring would simply be laying claim to strings of data whose full role and importance are as yet unknown. "Those who patent DNA sequences without real knowledge of their utility are staking claims not only to what little they know at present, but also to everything that might later be discovered about the genes. "They are, in effect, laying claim to a function that is not yet known or a use that does not yet exist. This may be in current shareholders' interests. But it does not serve society well," the scientists wrote. Only a week ago, Clinton and Blair issued a joint statement warning of the possible dangers of granting patents for human DNA, calling instead for full "unencumbered access" to the data. "We must ensure that the profits of human genome research are measured not in dollars, but in the betterment of human life," said Clinton. Some five years before schedule, scientists working for the public sector Human Genome Project are reportedly within months of completing the full chemical analysis of the genes. However, a rival private project headed by the US-based biotech firm Celera Genomics is threatening to beat the public project to its goal while appearing intent on keeping some findings secret, possibly for later patents. However, Alberts and Klug insisted that the granting of any "broad monopoly patent rights" to biotech firms wishing to cash in on the possible health or insurance spin-offs from a particular gene "should be regarded as extraordinary." "More attention must be given to striking the
appropriate balance between public and commercial interest," the two
scientific authorities declared.
Newswires |
