Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Who owns and controls genetic information from the human genome project?

Francis Collins is the director and a pioneer of the project.





Who owns the human genome?





Every part of the genome sequenced by the Human Genome Project was made public immediately - in fact, new data on the genome is posted every 24 hours. It is true that private companies have filed thousands of patents on human genes over the past several years. We don't know how many such patents have been filed, whether the patents will be awarded or if they're enforceable. Most of the patent applications have not been acted upon, so we really don't know how much, if any, of the genome can be used freely for commercial purposes.

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