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The Case for Caution — Being Protective of Human Dignity in the Face of Corporate Forces Taking Title to Our DNA
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2021
Extract
Thirteen years ago, commenting on the treatment of the human body and its cell lines as patentable commodities, Mary Taylor Danforth wrote:
Research with human cells that results in significant economic gain for the researcher and no gain for the patient offends the traditional mores of our society in a manner impossible to quantify Such research tends to treat the human body as a commodity — a means to a profitable end. The dignity and sanctity with which we regard the human whole, body as well as mind and soul, are absent when we allow researchers to further their own interests without the patient's participation by using a patient's cells as the basis for a marketable product.
In his insightful article, David Resnik would have us travel further down the path of allowing the patenting of DNA in order to advance scientific research and the welfare of humankind. Dr. Resnik suggests that that the acquisition of such proprietary rights in DNA research must proceed cautiously
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References
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The interrelationship among the advancement of individual property rights, individualism, and human dignity can be examined historically in thirteenth century England in a remarkable series of common law decisions and statutes of Parliament, perhaps the most notable of which is the statute Quia Emptores (1290), which broke the chain of subinfeudinations and formally sanctioned the creation of freehold estates.Google Scholar
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