RT: An Australian court has ruled in favor of allowing a company to patent a human gene. Concerns have been voiced that allowing a company to monopolize genes will turn the human body into a commodity, and will adversely affect healthcare.
The judge argued the act of removing a specific gene from the body and isolating it made it into a product “of new manufacture” and therefore open to be patented, despite the fact that the same gene may occur naturally in other human beings.
The patent was filed by US company Myriad Genetics in 1994 – if enforced in Australia, it would give the company exclusive rights to carry out tests on specific genes. In turn, the patent would prevent anyone else from isolating, researching or conducting tests on the gene in question.
