Carbon emissions may be at an all time high, but thanks to research currently being conducted at Texas A&M University (TAMU), clearer skies may be in our future.
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In what is being hailed as a victory for both scientific research and patients' rights, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday that human genetic material cannot be patented. The case, Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, has been working its way through the court system for a number of years now, led by plaintiffs including the ACLU, the American College of Medical Genetics, the American Society for Clinical Pathology, and numerous prominent genetic research scientists. The verdict invalidates the patents Myriad Genetics has held on breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 since the 1990's and allows other labs besides theirs to test for mutations in those genes which, when present, strongly indicate a genetic predisposition to cancer. It also means that scientists can move forward in their genetic research without threat of being sued for copyright infringement. While the case was brought against Myriad specifically, the decision to disallow human gene patenting has profound implications for both scientific discovery and individual rights of ownership over our own genetic material.
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