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Patenting our DNA **heavy thread alert**
This reads like something from a depressing-as-hell dystopian sci-fi (the premise was good, but why oh why did they cast Jude Law?!):
“A Utah firm, Myriad Genetics, had isolated two human genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, that can contain mutations that predispose women who carry them to breast cancer — crucial knowledge for early detection and prevention. The company had successfully obtained patents for the genes. “Owning” the genes gave it the right to prevent others from testing for them.”
Sounds like an incredibly significant judgement that’s been made by the Supreme Court on this.
There have obviously been debates around access to medicine for decades, but there's something about patenting bits of our own DNA and then, for profit, monopolising diagnosis or treatment relating to them that just feels like a whole other level of sinister.
TL;DR? Too serious for a sunny Wednesday? Erm, which DiSer's DNA would you patent and why?