> Incredible: U.S. Company patents Cancer genes

[salamfromrom]

What audacity! These people must be sick in the head

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Myriad Genetics, a Utah-based company, vowed Wednesday to "vigorously defend" itself against a legal challenge to its patents on two human genes linked to breast and ovarian cancers, its attorney told CNN. "We do intend to vigorously defend our intellectual property rights," Marsh said. He noted a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision related to gene patenting that he said cleared the way for "tens of thousands of genetic and genetic-related patents" to be granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The ACLU says that patenting the genes limits research and the free flow of information, and as a result violates the First Amendment. "Knowledge about our own bodies and the ability to make decisions about our health care are some of our most personal and fundamental rights," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "The government should not be granting private entities control over something as personal and basic to who we are as our genes."

Source: ACLU sues over patents on breast cancer genes - CNN.com

Revolting

P.S. I know there's no news section on this forum, but I thought this is pretty funny in a very sick way and people would be interested to know the depths to which greedy corporations have gone in order to make a profit.

[Abdul-Fattah]

Selam aleykum

Originally Posted by salamfromrom

What audacity! These people must be sick in the head

Source: ACLU sues over patents on breast cancer genes - CNN.com

Revolting

P.S. I know there's no news section on this forum, but I thought this is pretty funny in a very sick way and people would be interested to know the depths to which greedy corporations have gone in order to make a profit.

Wait a sec, did they patent a medicine/treatment/process or something? Or did they actually patent the actual gene? Because patents only apply to inventions, not discoveries...

[salamfromrom]

Salam

The ACLU says that patenting the genes limits research and the free flow of information, and as a result violates the First Amendment. "Knowledge about our own bodies and the ability to make decisions about our health care are some of our most personal and fundamental rights," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "The government should not be granting private entities control over something as personal and basic to who we are as our genes."

Lol, it seems they have patented the ACTUAL GENE!

The lawsuit also challenges genetic patenting in general, noting that about 20 percent of all human genes are patented -- including genes associated with Alzheimer's disease, muscular dystrophy and asthma.
"It is absolutely our intent that upon victory this will rend invalid patents on many other genes," said Dan Ravicher, executive director of the Public Patent Foundation and a patent law professor at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. "We just had to pick one case as our case."
Ravicher offered an analogy to describe the plaintiffs' argument, saying, "It's like saying if someone removes your eyeball ... just because you remove the eyeball and wash it off, that doesn't make the eyeball patentable.
"Now if they create another eyeball out of plastic or metal, then you can patent that."
"It's like trying to patent the moon," he said. "You didn't do anything to create it, just discovered something that already existed. You can't patent things that are publicly available, that anyone can find. You have to create something, make something, do something with the thing."

That's seriously messed up