Patentes de genes humanos

In These Times publica como está creciendo el poder corporativo sobre la definición de la vida, incluídos ahora los genes humanos. No extrañamente los primeros en ser patentados son los genes de un grupo indígena...

You can’t own a Hagahai man from Papua New Guinea, not even if you’re a scientist. As a scientist you can, however, have part of him delivered to your door for $200 plus $81.50 in shipping and handling.

When you call the American Type Culture Collection and ask for CRL-10528, you’ll get this man’s “cell line”—a group of human cells that contains an individual’s complete genetic code. Remarkably, that his genome can be found only in this way reflects a victory: His cell line was Patent No. 5,397,696 until international protests forced the U.S. government to drop its claim, in part because his cell line was taken without consent.

Companies have two incentives to secure patents, which confer exclusive use rights over genetic material: Any profits from drugs developed through patented data go directly to the holder, and any future researcher wishing to use patented data typically must pay a royalty fee. This is true even in cases like that involving the Hagahai people in which genetic material was taken without their consent.

A genetically engineered future has consequences for everyone. But this is especially true for native people.

According to the U.N. Development Program, 80 percent of the world’s remaining biodiversity is located in indigenous territories. And the people who live there are thought to offer “narrow” gene pools—or distinct populations that can facilitate genetic study.

But a disjuncture between native belief and Western science also occurs at the most basic level: Many native people hold that all life is sacred. And to remove part of it, even a blood sample, can restrict one’s ability to pass into the next stage of life.

“There’s no natural fit there,” says Debra Harry, a Northern Paiute Indian and executive director of the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism (IPCB), a nonprofit watchdog organization.

Deepening the concern over genetic study is a lack of standards. In many cases DNA has been obtained and patented without prior approval or a full understanding of what is at work. Private companies are the most active gene hunters. But they are not subject to strict federal regulatory and oversight guidelines if they don’t take public dollars. Additionally, if a cell line helps develop the next Viagra, nothing forces these companies to share proceeds with the person from whom the genetic information came. In other words, private companies can go onto reservations without disclosing what they’re doing, take DNA samples without saying why, get rich from the information, and not share the bounty with its often impoverished source.

“All over the world, indigenous peoples have been able to maintain our culture and exist despite the negative effects of colonization,” says Tom Goldtooth, director of the Indigenous Environmental Network. “We have some strong genes. Our genetic pool is something that scientists in industry are interested in.

“Our organization is very cautious of any market-based solution for trade in pharmaceuticals,” he adds. “I don’t trust [indigenous genetic] information being held by systems outside our community, systems that have never been accountable.”

Y el artículo continúa. Este precedente puede ser parte de las piedras que pavimenten el camino al Mundo Feliz del que nos ha alertado Francis Fukuyama en Our Posthuman Future, gran libro.