DOES it matter who owns the rights to the raw information in our genes? Do we care whether scientists have the freedom to explore the human genome? Should we be concerned if the knowledge and use of the sequence of bases in our DNA are controlled by private companies?
I say it matters a great deal. We must care. We should be concerned. The potential exists for private companies to set themselves up as gatekeepers to information on the human genome. If private efforts effectively restrict access to the 3 billion base pairs of the human genome, then the pace…
