The race to sequence the human genome was a battle between the public interest motivated Human Genome Project and the private profit seeking company Celera.
At stake was the control of human DNA the building blocks of life.
Ciaran Jennings explains
When the Human Genome Project started it was two-thirds funded by the American tax-payer and a third by the UK's Wellcome Trust. Its aim was to provide the “book of life, information on the genome which could be used to identify genes, enabling revolutionary treatments for diseases like cancer and AIDS and bringing nearer the possibility of correcting genetic defects which debilitate people for life. The Project studiously put their research on the internet, into the public domain and free for the use of all.
Celera in contrast was set up by Craig Venter in the US specifically to beat the Genome Project to decoding the full sequence, with a similar eye to the uses of the genome. Crucially, Celera wanted to patent gene sequences to recover their investment and make money. Venter wanted to monopolise the genome in order to force companies wanting to carry out research involving the use of individual genes to pay royalties. In essence, Venter wanted to be the corporate landlord of the human genetic code.
The Human Genome Project won the race in 2000 and have posted their working draft on the internet. This has not stopped the patenting of gene sequences though. Which, according to Genewatch, the UK-based non-profit organisation monitoring the ethics and threats of genetic engineering, have exploded in number into the thousands. Before the sequence had been finished, Celera had made over 6,500 patent applications and the US Patent Office has already granted over 1500 patents by the end of 2000 to different companies and organisations. The US government's Health Department has taken out many of these, as have many American, European and Japanese bio-engineering companies. Genewatch reports there is already evidence suggesting research has been throttled by companies who have been granted patents and want exclusive rights to produce medical treatments based on their patented gene sequence.
If the prospect of companies making money from securing the right to use the common property of every living person was not bad enough, so-called bio-piracy has emerged. This is where a company or individual patents the gene sequence of a person, animal or plant with out their permission or regard for their rights. An example of this is the way Mars UK limited has patented genes from a west African cocoa plant thought to be responsible for the distinctive flavour of cocoa in the region. Synthesis of this cocoa would effectively destroy one of the export industries of poor western African nations.
Bio-piracy has been practised on indigenous peoples who have had genetic samples taken from them and then patented for possible medical use. On an individual level an American called John Moore discovered after he had his spleen removed that a company had taken out a patent on his spleen cells. Begging the question who owns you?
For more information visit www.genewatch.org
|
