Patenting of Human Genes and Living Organisms — A Nightmare for the Scientist

Abstract

In the spring of 1992, many of us were startled by the news that the National Institutes of Health in the U.S.A. submitted a request for patenting of about 2750 anonymous cDNA sequences of the human genome, which could be parts of genes. Fortunately, the application has been turned down by the U.S. patenting office, but human genes have been patented, and with progress of genetic research in all fields, as well as increasing chances for their commercial exploitation, the run of industrial companies and, more recently, also of research institutes to national and international patenting offices is increasing. But the NIH application has directed public attention to a group of problems that had been discussed in smaller circles for a couple of years. The problems turn out, upon closer scrutiny, to be much more complex than generally assumed. Not only patenting of human genes is at stake, but other living materials have been patented or are under discussion as well — mainly other parts of the human body, — but also animals such as the famous Harvard cancer mouse, — and seeds as results of plant breeding.