美國企業和大學已專利化了約20%的人類基因, 譬如說, 當他們發現了某一種基因是抗癌或增強某些疾病的抵抗力, 就會把它專利化, 一旦專利化後, 其他科研機構不能隨便利用那些基因資料發展生物科技. 整個科技發展繼續富者越富, 貧者越分的邏輯, 最過份的是, 我們的身體雖然有這些基因, 但我們卻不能擁有它, 而是被企業擁有, 並以之謀利.
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節錄自 national geographic news
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.
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Hot Spots
Gene patents were central to the biotech boom of the 1980s and
1990s. The earliest gene patents were obtained around 1978 on the gene
for human growth hormone.
The human genome project and the introduction of rapid sequencing
techniques brought a deluge of new genetic information and many new
patents. Yet there has been little comprehensive research about the
extent of gene patenting.
The new study reveals that more than 4,000 genes, or 20 percent
of the almost 24,000 human genes, have been claimed in U.S. patents.
Of the patented genes, about 63 percent are assigned to private firms and 28 percent are assigned to universities.
The top patent assignee is Incyte, a Palo Alto, California-based drug company whose patents cover 2,000 human genes.
"Gene patents give their owners property rights over gene
sequences—for example in a diagnostic test, as a test for the efficacy
of a new drug, or in the production of therapeutic proteins," Murray
said.
"While this does not quite boil down to [the patent holders] owning our
genes … these rights exclude us from using our genes for those purposes
that are covered in the patent," she said.
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Patent Maze
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But critics caution that patents that are very broad can
obstruct future innovations by preventing researchers from looking for
alternative uses for a patented gene.
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"If one institution owns all the rights, it may work well to
introduce a new product, but it may also block other uses, including
research," he said.
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