Monday, 3 December 2012

US reviewing whether human genes can be patented

Genes DNA

The US Supreme Court announced Friday it would review a case testing whether human genes may be patented, in a dispute weighing patents associated with human genes known to detect early signs of breast and ovarian cancer.


A 2009 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union claimed among other things the First Amendment of the US Constitution is at stake because the patents are so broad they bar scientists from examining and comparing the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes at the center of the dispute. In short, the patents issued more than a decade ago cover any new scientific methods of looking at these human genes that might be developed by others.


By: David Kravets, Edited by: Nate Lanxon


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via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-12/03/gene-patents

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