Profits pending : how life patents represent the biggest swindle of the 21st century / Matthew Albright.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Albright, Matthew.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Medical genetics--Law and legislation--United States.

Medical genetics.

Genetic engineering--Law and legislation--United States.

Genetic engineering.

Genes--Patents--Moral and ethical aspects.

Genes.

Patents.

Genetic engineering--Law and legislation.

Medical genetics--Law and legislation.

United States.

Physical Description:

233 pages ; 20 cm

Place of Publication:

Monroe, Me. : Common Courage Press, [2004]

Summary:

Somebody owns your genes. Through the U.S. patent system, corporations and universities have claimed property rights not just on the rice and corn at your dinner table but also on you. Moving beyond patenting and "owning" diseases like staph, tuberculosis, and SARS, one American corporation owns the genetic heritage of the entire population of lceland. A university has property rights on all human clones -- even though human cloning is still being debated in Congress. Another company claims to have invented "junk" DNA. Through its patents, it stakes a claim to the research on 95% of human DNA. Profits Pending examines the devastating affects of these patents on life, from the blatant theft of cultural resources to slowing down research into deadly diseases. Once used to reward the inventiveness of American scientists and entrepreneurs, the patent system is now being abused to control scientific exploration into human biology and to create monopolies over the world's food sources. Instead of promoting scientific discoveries, patents on life now destroy crucial elements of the scientific method such as the free exchange of ideas between researchers. Profits Pending demonstrates that patents on life may ultimately destory the biotechnology industry and hinder the innovation the American economy depends on.

Contents:

Introduction: Life Patents and Monopolies on Genes, Diseases, Plants, and Animals 1

Chapter 1 Buy, Sell, Sue: How Life Patents Kill Innovation 12

Chapter 2 Raping the Land, Reaping the People: Patents and Biocolonialism 42

Chapter 3 Rosy Promises, Scary Predictions and Hard Realities: Genetic Tests and Gene Therapy 74

Chapter 4 Of Mice and Mousetraps: The Patent Office Requirements 110

Chapter 5 Lifeblood of a Dying Industry: Time for a New Cure? 144

Chapter 6 Twisting the Constitution 170

Chapter 7 Patenting Humans and Beyond: Who Decides Our Future? 182.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [197]-222) and index.

ISBN:

1567512305

1567512313

OCLC:

54030533