The Wire

To some, the idea of owning a human gene, or part of the body’s blue-print may sound a bit hard to believe. But actually it’s been going on for the past 20 years. It’s only in the past 5 – 10 years that there’s been some sort of public debate about it in Australia. So what are the scientific and ethical concerns of gene patenting? Some corporatations believe that if they do the research on human, plant or animal genes, they should have ownership of that information. Last week, The Democrats welcomed the completion of the Australian Law Reform Commission’s final report on Gene Patenting. The Democrats argue that access to genes and gene sequences must be assured by preventing commercial constraints from patent rights. Elissar Mukhtar spoke to Australian Democrats’ Science and Biotechnology Spokeperson Natasha Scott Despoja; and Bob Williamson, Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of Melbourne and Director of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute at the Royal Children’s Hospital.