Wrong on Every Level

American Liberalism is completely out of control. If there is any area of research that begs - absolutely begs - to be publicly funded, it is genetic research. The promise of this area of medicine is unmatched. Yet, true to form, the US is letting the private sector run away with it. One fifth of all human genes have now been patented. This is not even in the ballpark of John Locke’s ideas, never mind in the spirit.

“It might come as a surprise to many people that in the U.S. patent system human DNA is treated like other natural chemical products,” said Fiona Murray, a business and science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, and a co-author of the study.

“An isolated DNA sequence can be patented in the same manner that a new medicine, purified from a plant, could be patented if an inventor identifies a [new] application.”

The argument in favor of patenting the exclusive use of genes is that it will spur investors and expose ideas to public scrutiny through the patent system. While this may be true in a society whose only fuel is greed, I feel a different approach is warranted. Even in such a society, the patenting of genes is simply absurd. It is based soley on the ability to “see” something. We can now identify genes in the same manner as we identify naturally occurring atoms, molecules, bacteria, viruses, etc. Atoms cannot be patented. They are fundamental building blocks. If we did not create them, we should not be able to patent them.

John Locke, the father of liberalism, postulated that adding labour to something gives you ownership. This is not the same as walking down a path, identifying an apple tree, and then claiming all apple trees, apples and apple seeds for your company simply by virtue of identifying them. That said, if you identify a process that can provide therapeutic benefit using a gene, fine. Patent the process. But I’m Canadian. Medicine is something I think should be public. So I have difficulty even with that.