Gene Patenting Abuse

Canada and Australia are upset about a recent decision to uphold the rights of genetics companies to patent certain human genes and prevent any other researchers from using them.

A gene patent is intellectual property, which gives the patent holder the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing an invention for a period of time, usually 20 years. Although gene patents often base their claims at least partly on whole genes, they also cover many kinds of inventions involving the components of genes and genetic technologies

Michael Crichton makes the case that “Gene patents might have looked reasonable twenty years ago, but the field has changed in ways nobody could have predicted. Today we have plenty of evidence that gene patents are unnecessary, unwise, and harmful.”

The issue is not that of protecting costly research, like we usually hear from big parma, but is actually about of preventing researchers world wide from studying genes such as the BRCA1 and BRCA2 which are closely linked to suspected cases of heredity breast and ovarian cancer syndrome.

These patents do not cover inventions, but knowledge of the human body. Not only do they prevent the normal process of peer review through repeating experiments, but they also stop many researchers around the world from working to relieve human misery.

This kind of abuse of the patent system is totally obnoxious and must be stopped. We should be sensible and ignore the patents, as Ontario has done.

It seems obvious to me, but perhaps I am wrong
Do any nerds condone the practice?