How Can Someone Patent a Gene?

Crichton and other critics often ask, “How can anyone own my genes?” The answer is that they cannot. What someone can “own” is a DNA sequence that he or she was the first to isolate and that is useful. Similarly, a person who discovers a new function of a known DNA sequence, such as its previously unknown association with particular disease, can patent a method of using the isolated sequence to detect susceptibility to that disease. Isolated DNA sequences do not occur in nature. They are new.

Claiming them as isolated sequences is not “mere word play” as asserted by Congressman Becerra in his remarks. Rather, the language reflects the critical fact that, but for the actions of the inventor, the invention would not exist. The gene for human Factor VIII doesn’t do a hemophiliac any good when it is in somebody else’s genome. It is only useful when someone isolates it and a company spends time and money to bring human Factor VIII to the market. Since isolated DNA sequences do not occur in nature, they are not natural products. By patenting them, the inventor takes nothing from the public.

http://www.genengnews.com/articles/chitem.aspx?aid=2052