Patenting Pandora's Bug
Goodbye, Dolly...Hello, Synthia!
J. Craig Venter Institute Seeks Monopoly Patents on the World's First-Ever Human-Made Life Form
ETC Group Will Challenge Patents on "Synthia" - Original Syn Organism created in the laboratory.
Ten years after Dolly the cloned sheep made her stunning debut, the J. Craig Venter Institute is applying for a patent on a new biological bombshell - the world's first-ever human-made species. The novel bacterium is made entirely with synthetic DNA in the laboratory.
The Venter Institute - named for its founder and CEO, J. Craig Venter, the scientist who led the private sector race to map the Human Genome - is applying for worldwide patents on what they refer to as "Mycoplasma laboratorium." In the tradition of 'Dolly,' ETC has nicknamed this synthetic organism (or 'syn') 'Synthia.'
"Synthia may not be as cuddly as a cloned lamb, but we believe this is a much bigger deal," explains Jim Thomas of ETC Group, a civil society organization that is calling on the world's patent offices to reject the applications. "These monopoly claims signal the start of a high-stakes commercial race to synthesize and privatize synthetic life forms. Will Venter's company become the 'Microbesoft' of synthetic biology?" asks Jim Thomas.
...more -
http://www.etcgroup.org/en/materials...tml?pub_id=631
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Synthia - Patenting Pandora's Bug
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