Human Genes Should Not Be Patented

Patenting of specific human genes constitutes a threat to basic science and should not be allowed, a legal scholar and ethicist said at the Law School recently. Humans “have only 30,000 genes, so the fact that there are now 8,000 of those genes or more that are patented is a significant number,” David Koepsell said during a talk sponsored by the Health Law Association. The human genome continues to be a subject of interest as more and more research shows that people metabolize drugs...

http://www.law.virginia.edu