"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"

[Dr Mordrid]

An unsung hero in medical history who didn't know she'd become one.

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About The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the effects of the atom bomb; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.
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[TransformX]

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-way-of-all-flesh/

Henrietta Lacks’ heirs are entitled to nothing from the multi-billion dollar biotech industry her cells founded because she died too long ago.

But Walt Disney’s heirs still get paid for a drawing of a mouse in short pants that he did in 1928.

That’s completely vulgar. The law is obscene.

[Dr Mordrid]

Singularity Hub....

Who Owns You? 20% of the Genes in Your Body are Patented

Here’s a disconcerting thought: for the past thirty years, genes have been patentable. And we’re not just talking genetically modified corn – your genes, pretty much as they exist in your body, can and have been patented. The US government reports over three million gene patent applications have been filed so far; over 40,000 patents are held on sections of the human genome, covering roughly 20% of our genes.

Upset? You’re not alone. Critics argue that the patents stifle potential research into disease, keep new treatments off the market, and bring in serious money to Big Pharma – all by exercising property claims that shouldn’t exist. After all, genes aren’t inventions, which are patentable – they’re discoveries, which aren’t. As Luigi Palombi noted recently at the Open Science Summit, “You can’t patent Mount Everest; why can you patent a gene?” Here, we review the history of genetic law, the current state of affairs, and interview David Koepsell, an attorney and author of a recent book on gene patenting, Who Owns You? The Corporate Gold Rush To Patent Your Genes.

The ACLU has been waging a legal war against gene patenting, and some forward progress has been made. A few months back, a major (and unexpected) victory against gene patenting came when a district judge struck down patent claims by Myriad Genetics. Back in 1998, Myriad patented several genes of the BRCA family; mutations along these genes increase susceptibility to breast and ovarian cancer. The patents gave Myriad proprietary rights over diagnostic tests for the mutations – tests they sold for over $3,000 each.
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[Jammrock]

Prior art by itself should shoot down gene patents. How big pharma gets around that is astounding. I'm just waiting for some lawyer to sue the planet because everyone has a gene his company owns a patent for. We'll see how long gene patents last after that.

[Jessterw]

I don't see how the patent office ever allowed for them to be patented in the first place. Yeah, that sound sounds naive to say, but I'm at a loss. As if software patents aren't bad enough, we have this.

*sigh*