NationStates Jolt Archive

Please read this proposal submitted through me but created by 'The Community of Conceptualists'.


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Description: This proposal was created by 'The Community of Conceptualists'.

The patenting laws were originally set up to protect the rights of the inventor. Today when a gene is discovered (usually by a big pharmacuticals company) it is patented. Around 1/3 of the human genome have to date been patented, almost exclusively by three big companies. Which means that 1/3 of your body is owned by companies, which is scary.

Scientific objections to gene patenting:
It set up a chilling secrecy in a world where openess is needed (research). Research has almost retarded in many fields of biochemistry and medcine because of the patents, if an already patented gene is accidently discovered by another laboritory, they cannot use it and must pretend they never found it.

It is beginning to make cancer screenings prohibitively expensive. When a company patents a gene that when mutated causes cancer, they own the rights to test for it. Therefore all tests must go to the companies laboratories for the test. This means the company can charge what it wants.

Gene therapy will become a near monopoly, with a few companies holding the right to life for many people.

Other arguments:

Companies will begin owning what is human, a power they can use and abuse however they see fit.
Genes are discovered not inventions, so should not be allowed to be patented. Everyone who has done any basic biology knows that genes are inheirated from our parents, so have existed for all of humanity.

This resolution will ban gene patenting by anyone. Research will become the open field it needs to be. It will mean many potentially life saving techniques will not be too expensive that only the wealthiest can afford them. It also means we will own our own bodies.

Oh and please vote too!

So, if Frisbeeteria's bio-pharmaceutical firms spend billions of FrisBs on developing new genetic therapies, they become open-source as soon as we publish? And assuming we don't go through regulatory bodies (Frisbeeteria is fairly lax in that area), as soon as the first medicinal dose reaches market, the scientists from Grande can copy it freely and legally?

Fine. We're henceforth shutting down all medical biopharma companies and going back into making military hovercraft and lethal bacteriaphagic weapons. If there is no profit in the endeavor, no Frisbeeterian scientist will be interested in developing gene therapies.


Grande, please pass this message to 'The Community of Conceptualists' for me.

"Go take a college economics class or two. Go on. We'll wait. In the meantime, stay the heck out of economic policy."

M.J. Donovan, CEO, Frisbeeteria (disgusted)

---Post deleted by NationStates Moderators---

Please forgive me but I want to get deleted.............


Geez dude, just stop logging in... it's not rocket science.

I don't want companies owning my genes. I support this proposal.

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Pìg!ome, g||xòfùme.-I am a human, not a tool.
No Mods, No Masters!
http://www.sulucas.com/images/steatopygia.jpg
I'm male. Note the pic of attractive women.

The Rogue Nation of Greenspoint only allows a patent on an invention, which is defined as a device, method or process developed from study and experimentation. We do not recognize the DISCOVERY of anything, no matter its size, location, or the difficulty of its uncovering, to be patentable.

We will support this proposal.

James Moehlman
Asst. Manager ico U.N. Affairs
Greenspoint

Greenspoint, please reread the Proposal. Look at this line in particular:
This resolution will ban gene patenting by anyone.
Grande has once again created a proposal that looks good from the outset, but has implications FAR beyond what they might have intended. They propose not only to ban patents on discovered portions of the human genome, but on all genetic research. Had they taken the time to vet this proposal to a broader audience before proposing it, the Frisbeeterian Bio-pharmaceutical industry would have quickly and easily suggested minor modifications that would have made this acceptable.

Frisbeeterian microbiologists and geneticists start with the basic genomic building blocks, and work from there. We use human, animal, and plant DNA as our starting point, and develop recombinant strains specifically targeted at specific functions and blocking receptor sites, thus preventing life-threatening diseases from taking hold.

Under this proposal, our valient scientists would not be allowed the opportunity to recoup the costs of long years of development. You would grant a patent on a better lightbulb or lawnmower engine ... why should a trained and industrious scientist be denied this basic privilege?

There is no question in the academic community that they feel they are being denied access to the fruits of the human genome. Patents on discoveries alone should be available to all. Had this proposal stated that fact, it would have had Frisbeeteria's support. Instead, the so-called 'Community of Conceptualists' left out that simple descriptive when writing their proposal, and thus the entire process needs to be discarded.

Here is the single relevant paragraph in the entire proposal, with our recommended edit in bold. This amendment is consistent with the spirit stated in the rest of the proposal.

This resolution will ban patenting of any discovered, unmodified element of the Human Genome by any person, group, or State . Research will become the open field it needs to be. It will mean many potentially life saving techniques will not be too expensive that only the wealthiest can afford them. It also means we will own our own bodies.
Frisbeeteria has no objection to the reintroduction of this amended proposal after the current proposal has expired unapproved. We might even endorse it, despite the fact that it would surely cost us potential profits. Even a culture such as ours is not blind to the broader needs of the human community.

In the meantime, we encourage you to ignore this proposal. Fervently.

M.J. Donovan, CEO, Frisbeeteria (earnestly)

Patent gene, no patent gene, you can always make money. No one invented the apple, or pattented. But their is a fortune in apple pies.

We are not fully sure how we will vote on this matter. However, we do feel that this proposal has some good merit. We will see what happens, but again. I forsee that this will pass in one form or another.

Patent gene, no patent gene, you can always make money. No one invented the apple, or pattented. But their is a fortune in apple pies.
Anyone can walk to an apple tree and pick apples for pies. It takes years of specialized effort by teams of scientists, along with millions or even billions of dollars to develop even one successfully modified gene. It takes a lot of "pies" to pay that back. We need a patent to assure our scientists the opportunity to earn back what they put into it.

If you were in your bakery making pies, Evil Martians, and somebody walked up to your cooling racks and stole and sold your pies, would you not cry "Thief!"? That was your hard work they were selling. The apples that went into those pies were only a small portion of your total cost. This is no different. We earned those patents. We deserve them!

Jean-Pierre Ramaud, Director of Research & Development
Frisbeeteria BioSciences, Inc.

i support this :D

i support this :D

The Confederacy of Caligatio would like to acknowledge it's disapproval of this idea, fully supporting the suggestion of the Ambassador of Fribeeteria to ignore such a proposal.

The Confederacy of Caligatio also fails to see the validity of the points laid out by Grande, especially:

"Which means that 1/3 of your body is owned by companies, which is scary."

Todd M., President of the Confederacy of Caligatio

I"m sorry but I feel there are too many gray areas in this for me to support. But the concept is a good one!

The Incorporated States of MitsubishiSonyLockheed fully supports this proposal as it would negatively effect our economy due to our reliance on
clone labour.

The Haphazard Gathering of Pinthazar recognizes the conflict of interest involved.

We would like to point out to those who still have not understood this that any PRODUCT based on the discovery of a gene should be patentable.

That any treatment METHOD based on the discovery of a gene should be patentable.

That any MODIFIED gene can be patented.

Plenty of profits to be made from pharmaceutical research. And don't tell me to take a college economics class - I already have a complete Master's Degree in it...

But that naturally occuring genes should not be patentable since they are not your invention.

Should it prove impossible to reach a majority decision on this there is always the possibility of a compromise: Limiting the patent period of genes compared to other inventions. Due to the rapid development within the area of biotech most companies aim to have ROI firmly established by year 5 anyway.

As for the resolution at hand we will need it to be more specific to avoid misintepreations before we can support it.

Greenspoint, please reread the Proposal. Look at this line in particular:
This resolution will ban gene patenting by anyone.


The Rogue Nation of Greenspoint does not view a gene, any gene, as a device, method or process developed from study and experimentation that would be patentable. We agree with the idea that the ability to legally patent anything having to do with the basic building blocks of humanity or human beings should be banned.

If and when scientists get to the point where they can duplicate the actions of the Creator in regards to generating new life, we may reconsider our position.

James Moehlman
Asst. Manager ico U.N. Affairs
Greenspoint

Wow! Very good proposal, Grande.

We totally support this proposal and rather think that it should be made to say that the government of each UN member nation should control gene pateting.

Wow! Very good proposal, Grande.

We totally support this proposal and rather think that it should be made to say that the government of each UN member nation should control gene pateting.

At last we agree on something my friend!

Please vote if you agree because there aren't many at the moment!

Regards,
Grande (President)

The Federation of Zephyrs is not supporting the proposal in it's current state. There are too many gray areas. Methods of gene research and things like that should be patent, but anyone can patent genes of my people I don't agree with.

The Federation of Zephyrs is not supporting the proposal in it's current state. There are too many gray areas. Methods of gene research and things like that should be patent, but anyone can patent genes of my people I don't agree with.

Come on this only has 9 votes! Vote if you believe!!! 2 days to go!

Come on this only has 9 votes! Vote if you believe!!! 2 days to go!

Grande, you snuck ONE poorly worded proposal past the approval process and into the General Assembly already. Be happy with that. Given that you refuse to acknowledge or respond to negative feedback on either the Euthanasia or this one, I'm surprised you got as many as nine.


By the way, I did vote as I believe. NO.

Each to their own my friend, each to their own... :wink:

Each to their own my friend, each to their own... :wink:

The gene patenting proposal will ban patenting genes. Not the applications like GM crops, which are considered inventions

So, if Frisbeeteria's bio-pharmaceutical firms spend billions of FrisBs on developing new genetic therapies, they become open-source as soon as we publish? And assuming we don't go through regulatory bodies (Frisbeeteria is fairly lax in that area), as soon as the first medicinal dose reaches market, the scientists from Grande can copy it freely and legally?

Fine. We're henceforth shutting down all medical biopharma companies and going back into making military hovercraft and lethal bacteriaphagic weapons. If there is no profit in the endeavor, no Frisbeeterian scientist will be interested in developing gene therapies.


Therefore simply copying the medecine will be illegal, as the medicine will be an invention, not a discovery. Unless the medcine is simply lying around somewhere, or their their is a gene that somehow cures everything.