When Dr. Goodall spoke about environmental concerns and the current practice of patenting plants that are genetically engineered I immediately thought of this class. Imagine a world in which corporations could own a life form. Imagine if evolution naturally created a life form that was close enough to a patented life form to warrant a copyright violation, would that corporation be able to sue nature? the premise of patenting a life form seems ridiculous to me for that very reason.
As an announcement if your like me and couldn’t get a ticket to the talk itself they are live streaming the talk here.
This reminds me of an issue I once read about regarding cures and vaccines taken from human samples. Say for example that you had your appendix removed or had a doctor take a swab of cells from your mouth to check for the presence of strep throat. If those materials were used for tests, and the tests resulted in the creation of a new vaccine or a similar medical breakthrough, current law states that the person who that sample belonged to would not receive any compensation. The argument is that since you willingly gave up that small portion of your body, you no longer own the rights to it or studies that involve it. It is easy to see why copyright in the world of biology becomes so complicated.
That reminds me of last year’s reading, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” Her ever replicating cancer cells were used to to test many things in the medical field, and yet her family never gained anything, despite the cells formerly being a literal part of her.