UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Should human genes be patented? Baird, Patricia A.

Abstract

With regard to the field of genetics, research into identification of particular DNA sequences and elucidation of their function involves the application of much expertise and work, and this costs large amounts of money. Some researchers and some of the funders of the research want to protect the fruits of their labour - in fact, they would not undertake it unless they judged that they would make a profit from the development and sale of processes or products resulting from the research. There is enormous potential commercial application to knowledge gained about human genes, for example the market for DNA diagnostics alone is conservatively anticipated to exceed one billion dollars by 1998. Private funding from industry provides a large proportion of funding for research and development in this field.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada