WILL YOUR CHILDREN OWN THEIR GENES?
The completion of the Human Genome Project was greeted with much
enthusiasm and many hopes for a bright future pregnant with new
possibilities. Currently incurable diseases would be detected
early enough and would be prevented before they developed.
Damaged organs would be replaced with brand new cloned organs
perfectly compatible with our bodies as these organs would be
specially grown out of our own stem cells. Our children would be
healtier and would live longer. The possibilities that were in
the horizon seemed endless. Some even believed that one day we
would even defeat death and would perhaps beat God in his own
game.
Over the past forty years, genes have gradually gained a new
value as the raw resources or the building blocks of an already
happening biotech revolution that has been penetrating virtually
every industry in the world markets. Those who have been
involved in the race of deciphering the genetic code of life
forms on this planet have also been part of a more vicious race
of acquiring patents and intellectual property rights.
Although the ethical challenges posed by the biotech revolution
are still being debated, patents on biotechnological inventions
on living matter, such as genetically modified seeds,
micro-organisms, genes, tissues, cell lines and many other
components of life are now a reality. This double-edged sword
has created a dilemma. On one hand, it is imperative to form a
healthy balance between the interests of the inventor and the
society via a social contract, such as a patent, which should
also encourage scientific progress and a safe platform for the
continuation of future inventions. On the other hand, such
patents closely related to life and healthcare, under the strict
control of a small group of corporate entities, worry many
people, who clearly understand that in the near future one will
have to pay royalties or will have no access to certain
healthcare services.
In many hospitals today, patients, who need to have certain
tests done to see if they have a specific gene or a genetic
disposition for certain diseases, have to pay a royalty fee to
the patent-holding company for that specific gene being scanned.
For many, having to pay a