Owning life-forms a brave new world intrusion
Striking down these genetic patents is a wise legal decision. [“Judge’s ruling raises challenge to patents on human genome,” Business, March 30.]
Life-forms and their components (plant or animal) should never be owned by private companies. Developing drugs, cures, new strains, seeds, etc., based on knowledge gained from understanding the life-forms is one thing, but to own the life-form itself is an unprecedented brave-new-world intrusion meant to monopolize and subvert that knowledge to the exclusive benefit of a few.
Hopefully, any appeals will fail and any existing patents on life-forms proactively rescinded.
— David Kerchner, Kirkland