Larger than life
Late January, the European Patent Office took a tough stand on gene patenting by upholding a patent granted to the Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine, Melbourne, Australia. The patent covered the gene for H2-relaxin, a protein that allows the pelvic girdle to widen during pregnancy and childbirth.
The judgement was a setback for green MEPs. They argued that the patent was a blatant commercial exploitation of women, and that relaxin was unpatentable as it was a discovery, not an invention.
Pregnant women had willingly provided tissue to researchers, but now the gene is being artificially made. The EPO says that a substance will be unpatentable if only it were found freely in nature. But "if a substance found in nature has first to be isolated from its surroundings and a process for obtaining it is developed, that process is patentable". The MEPs have already decided to appeal against the decision within the next 3 months.
Related Content
- A global view of poverty, gender, and household composition
- Gulf Of Mexico Dead Zone Is 3 Times Larger Than Long-Term Targets
- 2016 Hunger Report: the nourishing effect- ending hunger, improving health, reducing inequality
- India energy scenarios 2047
- Oil spill off Mumbai worse than estimated
- Decoding mighty Brahmaputra’s DNA