Should you be able to patent a human gene?

Should you be able to patent a human gene? | Tania Simoncelli

Рет қаралды 75,645

8 жыл бұрын

Are human genes patentable? Back in 2005, when Tania Simoncelli first contemplated this complex question, US patent law said they were - which meant patent holders had the right to stop anyone from sequencing, testing or even looking at a patented gene. Troubled by the way this law both harmed patients and created a barrier to biomedical innovation, Simoncelli and her colleagues at the ACLU challenged it. In this riveting talk, hear the story of how they took a case everybody told them they would lose all the way to the Supreme Court.
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Пікірлер: 184

@DahBjorn 8 жыл бұрын

Wow, this is the best news I've heard regarding patents in a long time. Corporations actually lost to common sense in the end? I honestly did not see that coming when I clicked in to this video. Great talk!

@convidtruthshallout 3 жыл бұрын

And now it’s happened! If you’ve had the covid jab you are patented

@ryanluna7322 2 жыл бұрын

@@convidtruthshallout like monsanto and the saving/selling seeds thing, would gene patents cause them to own your kids if something they treated you with was passed down? or require you to ask for permission before having kids? all cuz you got some gene therapy for cancer or other medical problems? and they claim to be responcible for the benefits your descendants have? or if they cloned people would they have rights? or be property? then again without it or rights over our own dna/genetic lines, what prevents them from copying your dna? for cloning or building organs to sell ect or to make bioweapons? feel if your the one person whose somehow perfect for lack of a better word, should others be able to benefit off using your dna without your consent? is it a collective right over your genetics, or somewhat of a secret family recipe or a individuals? if they can use your dna without consent cuz some uniue trait it seems no different than forced blood donations but a excuse to bypass it since cant claim human rights violations, as in are we forced to somehow help eachother? do those who evolve past the others , have to support them cuz they got weak genes but have money?? vs making room wich is why evolution is a part of nature in the first place? mean imagine if nothing went extinct or died and how little room wed have here, and our place on the food chain. if one group achieves immortality through years of evolution and good genetic lineage, is that something everyone else deserves to share in? or does it defeat the purpose and go against nature? example you take the time to grow food like everyone else, yours does better than everyones, do you have to share? or is that greed on their part expecting that you do? and whos fault is it for their short comings? kinda why selecting a mate should be based more off intellect, behavior, health and beauty, vs just money, money just equals time,effort and luck, dont gotta be smart to get rich

@totalee001 2 жыл бұрын

How many people are reading this in 2021 and are starting to connect the dots?

@lifewithkee9959 2 жыл бұрын

Him I'm late

@levi12howell 8 жыл бұрын

Everyone's always trash talking Tedx videos, I personally found this one very interesting

@Pilbaran00b 8 жыл бұрын

I just want to say thanks. Thanks to all those people fighting against things like this, to make the world a better place for all. You are legends.

@andremonark8900 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah then you took the RNA jab with the blank insert 🥴

@DiegoBorgesdeOliveira19 8 жыл бұрын

I'll just change the subject and say: she reminds me a lot of Monica Geller, from Friends. lol

@lamyafaizal2242 8 жыл бұрын

Omg yes!

@srimansrini 8 жыл бұрын

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." Charles H. Duell Director of U.S. Patent Office, 1899 In this riveting talk, Ms. Tania Simoncelli presents an interesting case "Are human genes patentable?". It is really fascinating to know about her 'twist and turn' filled journey to get the justice. A very useful talk to everyone.

@notoriouswhitemoth 8 жыл бұрын

No, you should not be able to patent a genome, because doing so would mean that you would own one or more persons. That is called chattel slavery.

@jupiter7795 8 жыл бұрын

+notoriouswhitemoth No. It's just slavery.

@vaibhavgupta20 8 жыл бұрын

+Jupiter what is the difference between the 2?

@jupiter7795 8 жыл бұрын

Vaibhav Gupta Yes. Slavery is owning another being for economic reasons (working the fields, cleaning a house to save time, etc.). Chattel slavery is human slavery where the slave has absolutely no rights and is usually designed around dehumanizing the human slave.

@EebstertheGreat 8 жыл бұрын

+notoriouswhitemoth It was never legal to patent an entire genome (or chromosome, or other molecule that exists in that exact form in humans), only isolated genes. The argument from the biotech companies was that the genes did not exist isolated like that in nature. The argument (one of the arguments anyway) from the plaintiffs was that the gene already existed whether it was isolated or not, much like aluminum (elemental aluminum does not exist in nature, but that doesn't make it patentable). That interpretation of patent law was clearly problematic, but it was not equivalent to slavery.

@samal3196 8 жыл бұрын

+notoriouswhitemoth I'm against the idea of genome patenting mainly beause I don't think there should ever be a monopoly on stuff like curing genetic diseases, but I'll play devil's advocate here. How does being able to patent a gene (That is, to stop people copying that gene or sequencing/testing it yourself) in any way give you power over the person who has said gene? You're stopping other people using/looking at the genes you patent, nothing more and nothing less.

@canguar 8 жыл бұрын

this is a really good talk. one of the best ive seen in a long time

@wickedcoldfront1621 8 жыл бұрын

This might be the most interesting Ted talk I have ever watched. Thanks for sharing.

@Z3r0XoL 8 жыл бұрын

information should not be patented

@rick92rr 8 жыл бұрын

Yet plenty of scientific knowledge is behid a paywall for those who want to research further.

@TraumaQueen65 8 жыл бұрын

+Rick94rr There is a science paper, pirate website around that has reproduced thousands of scientific papers for anyone in the world to access. I unfortunately don't remember what it's called tho, sorry

@gdlmf9201 5 жыл бұрын

Zer0XoL Yeah well thats gone now. This is Usury. Debt slavery and tyrannical oligarchy. Intenational criminal should be shot in the head.

@pooltablemechanic 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you Tania and ACLU! I breathed a sigh of relief at the end of you talk!

@LordOfTheObvious 8 жыл бұрын

This was a really damn good talk

@99999racerx 8 жыл бұрын

Well done...all round. Thank you.

@G_G251 8 жыл бұрын

We should not be able to patent anything. The future is open-source knowledge.

@rsher7369 8 жыл бұрын

True

@AnneloesF 8 жыл бұрын

+Goodguy001 Amen.

@user-wr9hc6gf2n 8 жыл бұрын

+Goodguy001 Yeah, people should appreciate the work of scientist and "knowledge seekers" a lot more. They are heroes and more people should support their work with more funds for example. Otherwise there is no incentive on doing it, if you cant make a living out of it.

@Nillers 8 жыл бұрын

+Goodguy001 That is not entirely true. Patents are designed to help inventors from someone stealing their idea and getting rich before they could do anything about it. It's a good thing. There is no incentive for someone to invent if they think the big brother is going to come stake the claim on the idea before them. I do agree that there is a need for unpatentable areas where it might seem beyond the scope of the original idea or product. The issue are people just claiming multiple patents simply to sell it or make bank on hindering the progress of an idea.

@lukemacdonald7917 8 жыл бұрын

What? So if you create an invention, anyone can just use it without your permission? What a stupid idea...

@JoyoSnooze 8 жыл бұрын

Literally, the moment she said "9-0" I would of been on my feet in rapturous applause. True defenders of not just scientific freedom, but existential imperative. Thank you.

@dangthatscool1 8 жыл бұрын

Important topic, good talk. Thank you, Ms Simoncelli.

@phaoyu1 8 жыл бұрын

Great informative talk! Also, she reminds me of Monica from friends! Great work done!

@missaria11 8 жыл бұрын

Amazing talk!

@SangoProductions213 8 жыл бұрын

Good job, fighting the good fight.

@AhJodie 4 жыл бұрын

Bravo!!!!!!! What power! I love this!!!!!!!!

@Dmevi 8 жыл бұрын

You deserve a much bigger applause and a much bigger audience. Me and with me the whole population of this planet thank you for your effort and hard work. You did it well and won this case as you should have! Thank you!

@L3uX 8 жыл бұрын

Wrote many papers on this subject. Surprisingly gene patenting is a vicious, interesting, and an outrageous topic. Luckily Gene Patenting is mostly over with the spike of patents and such happening around 2004~. The book called Next by Michael Crichton is a good fictional/story example which you can get a good grasp on the implications. The story of Gene Patenting is utterly nutsssss.

@asadzaffer 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you Tania ❤

@musicalintentions 8 жыл бұрын

Truly amazing and inspiring.

@TraumaQueen65 8 жыл бұрын

Amazing story. Thank you for taking 8 years of your life to fight this fight for the betterment of human kind

@RGNSS-dp8st 8 жыл бұрын

What an amazing story. It's these sorts of scientists and lawyers who are the heroes we should be celebrating in film and TV.

@RGNSS-dp8st 8 жыл бұрын

No. No you should not.

@victorcharlie6384 8 жыл бұрын

I got mad respect for her and her team. they in a way saved the humanity and in a definite way saved the future of medicine.

@thevoicesoflogic 8 жыл бұрын

Incredible.

@SPEEDKILLAR 5 жыл бұрын

Wow, this is dangerous! Reassuring that there are good people like her with us.

@rachelchristie6772 7 жыл бұрын

This is great news! Honestly, when I clicked on the video I didn't think it would have as happy of an ending as it did. Obviously, as Tania brought up in her talk, "owning" or being able to patent parts of the human genome is unethical. Like she mentions, you can patent the means by which you produce or isolate DNA, or even the test used to discover a mutation of DNA, but not the DNA itself. Additionally, Myriad was negligent by refusing to revise the gene mutation test, resulting in 12 percent of the tests showing false negative results, and therefore withholding the chance for women who had the gene but was given a false negative to seek early and preventative treatment. Myriad had a duty to provide reliable results, especially since they were legally the only company able to offer the test, and they breached this duty by refusing to update their test when evidence became available that there was an additional gene mutation that was applicable for this test. The company’s breach of duty did cause damage to the patient, by giving several of them false negative results, and averting them from taking preventative measures which they would have if the test had been accurate. Thus, Myriad was negligent. I’m glad the court decision came back the way it did; I can’t believe I didn’t hear more about this on the news!

@ourcsi 8 жыл бұрын

Anyone know about the situation of gene patents in Canada?

@seaniesean5 8 жыл бұрын

What effect does this decision have on agribusiness' ability to patent seeds?

@oladyboleyno777 8 жыл бұрын

how they were ever allowed to patent dna at all is beyond me! well done for beating it!

@EarleRamage 8 жыл бұрын

I am curious and would appreciate the advice from some one who knows. Are plant genes patented and if so why is no one challenging that too

@keira_churchill 8 жыл бұрын

I agree with the basic premise that genes (human or not) should not be patentable, but there is a wider issue here for medical research and drug development. If a company, through extensive research and testing, pins down the active ingredient that has a positive outcome when used to treat an illness, then the same argument used here could be used to disallow the patenting of that work. The argument would be _"yes, they isolated it, and yes they spent millions researching and testing the active ingredient, but it's a product of nature that was just sitting there."_ If anyone can simply duplicate the products made by others then there's no way anyone will invest time and effort into research into new medicines. It's an expensive process after all, and people making that kind of investment need to at least get their money back - even if they hardly make any profit out of it. The profits made do appear to be excessive though, and that is definitely a problem that needs to be addressed. This would be a difficult issue to solve, and would require a shift from for-profit research leading the field, to well-funded non-profit research organisations taking up the work instead. These non-profits would then be required to release the research findings to manufacturers to compete on the production price alone. Research funding would be the issue here, of course, but I'd be happy to see my taxes used in this way - given that it'd be a public service. So basically I agree with this specific ruling, but fear that the precedent could be influence other fields, harming us all unless we make that fundamental shift in the way drug research is carried out.

@skydiver79 8 жыл бұрын

So what happens to the already existing patents?

@therightpath9258 7 жыл бұрын

How can we find out if our genes are patented? And how can we find out that its ours? And then sue them.

@QuangHuyVuNgoc 8 жыл бұрын

Can you add English sub? I cant hear all

@tycoonbig1776 3 жыл бұрын

Great

@Jimmy_Sandwiches 8 жыл бұрын

No it doesn't belong to you - it belongs to us all

@tobiojo10 8 жыл бұрын

go on girl!

@MarikBentusi 8 жыл бұрын

Man, there sure is a lot of people in the comments section treating the title like a poll invite, as opposed to an opening question that enveloped her journey all the way to the supreme court to overturn the status quo on that issue.

@TheAkashicTraveller 8 жыл бұрын

So here's a question that wasn't asked in this video. Should a wholly created artificial gene be patentable?

@ErgoCogita 8 жыл бұрын

+Jack Evans _"Should a wholly created artificial gene be patentable?"_ No such thing.

@rafelingd 8 жыл бұрын

+ErgoCogita yet

@ErgoCogita 8 жыл бұрын

rafelingd It seems to me that by definition, any gene we can use to enhance an organisms phenotype will have to be based upon, and work intimately with, existing genes. I'm not sure there will ever be "wholly created" genes.

@rafelingd 8 жыл бұрын

as far as I know they're working on a more stable version of dna. anything workable from that is probably decades of, but that would be entirely man made dna.

@ErgoCogita 8 жыл бұрын

rafelingd I'm afraid I haven't the slightest idea of what you are talking about. Do you have a link? I suspect you are either not doing the story you read very much justice or you just don't understand what it is that the story was saying...

@stepintothewoods8696 5 жыл бұрын

Microscopic slavery. If its patented, then they own it, and thus they're decisions with it does effect your future. So far the business of owning people has never turned out well.... even owning little bits of people.

@pepps779 8 жыл бұрын

The only way I can see patent actually being worth consideration would be if the patent was placed on a uniquely modified gene; thus one that has been artificially engineered/manipulated and cannot be found naturally occuring.

@blackbeauty2020 2 жыл бұрын

..and here we are...

@MrCorivatt 8 жыл бұрын

Patents hold back innovation

@mrjaffar 7 жыл бұрын

I'm glad these people stuck by this for 8 years. But this should not have been an issue in the first place. The part about the judge not wanting to upset the phama industry, says everything about the establishment protecting the established interests even when logic clearly shows its wrong. How many people have these corporate interests killed because of bad patent law!?

@OscarinoDoesMC 8 жыл бұрын

Yes, if you invented it

@AnstonMusic 8 жыл бұрын

+Oscar LD Good one, if it is only found then automatic nope.

@ProjectBetaDev 8 жыл бұрын

+Oscar LD how to "invent" a gene? Its like "inventing" a physical law. Patents are only to sue people to lock them out of the market.

@AnstonMusic 8 жыл бұрын

***** You could theoretically computer-model and develop a certain protein to have a specific function. (I believe this is already being done with projects like "foldit".) This protein with medicinal value is built according to a gene. It really doesn't matter whether you patent the gene or the protein, as they essentially contain the same information.

@ProjectBetaDev 8 жыл бұрын

Anston [Music] and they most likley aready exist. Just not discovered yet.

@AnstonMusic 8 жыл бұрын

***** Not really, the combinatorics here add up to huge numbers with even the littlest genes coding only ~50 amino acids. Usually there are multiple ways of coming to a specific function (roughly the same 3D shape and location of functional groups), so they could still have a different one to that what already might exist in nature.

@bigfletch8 8 жыл бұрын

If there is a devil, then here is an example of its handywork.

@LetYaRock 8 жыл бұрын

This is yuugely important! I hope german patent law will catch up with this progression :D

@rogeryoung3587 8 жыл бұрын

Even though I have nothing to contribute, I feel compelled to comment.

@Executableapplication 8 жыл бұрын

TD for ACLU

@hiamjanusz7354 8 жыл бұрын

hi Tania

@TheAnnoyingGunner 8 жыл бұрын

So, where are the industry apologists?

@sumyunguy5832 8 жыл бұрын

Haven't even watched the video. I'm here to read the comments

@dfhfdgfgdfshdfhe8257 7 жыл бұрын

Whoa!!!!

@OverflowCafe 8 жыл бұрын

interesting

@daniellindforsbernholm3682 8 жыл бұрын

So there is hope in this world of corporate lunacy. This was strangely emotional to watch.

@sbellaharris 8 жыл бұрын

The root of all evil: Monetary system.

@AkizaVesper 7 жыл бұрын

Then I'd like to know what you'd use instead of monetary systems.

@osamashakeel7133 8 жыл бұрын

not all heroes wear capes

@ozonefreak2 8 жыл бұрын

This is a great expository speech. And also, I agree, genes should NOT be patented!

@michaelrosche 8 жыл бұрын

They patent animal gene too, which limits are ability to research the genetic of certain animals, imagine if we could adopt the immortality of some jelly fish or be able to grow back limbs like lizards. 90% of all patents disrupt innovation, and this has to stop :/

@futurekillerful 8 жыл бұрын

Am I the only one who wasn't aware that gene patents was a thing until this video?

@charlie_conn235 8 жыл бұрын

This is literally Orphan Black

@ajayNemintane 8 жыл бұрын

man, people are more greedy & disgusting than i thought.

@kinngrimm 8 жыл бұрын

Mindblowing great news, thank you so much to fight the good fight! 2:52 It means "i guess", that if by chance and evolution, the same gene does appear, you know the way it normally does ^^. That then actually the human having that gene, may get a lawsuit. Pattenting genes, not only human genes, is for me too much. Companies should not be able to do it. exactly how it is citated at 4:07

@ksng767 8 жыл бұрын

So why is this female speaker not getting tons of dislikes and hate comments, but lots of praise instead? Because she is actually showing her ability through her work, she is actually accomplished and not just talk. We are way past sexism in science, women scientists are not just seen as equals now, but are highly demanded. Science doesn't care about your gender, it only cares about what you can contribute to it. Don't just talk about equality, mean it, show it in your work.

@ksng767 8 жыл бұрын

You clearly didn't read anything I said. And no, sexism did in fact exist in the past. Women were not allowed to vote and do science for a while in the past. And right now I'm saying that sexism no longer exists for science. Women are welcomed to do all forms of science. I'm in fact on the same side as you, but you are too irrational and ignorant to even understand my post. Also I'm neither, liberal, feminist, woman or American.

@ksng767 8 жыл бұрын

Pamela Tammi So you didn't read my comment as well, and if you did, you didn't understand anything. And why does credibility have anything to do with this?

@mdquik 4 жыл бұрын

Sandra Bullock?

@h.9671 6 жыл бұрын

Monica Geller-Bing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha just kidding!

@mucchay Жыл бұрын

❤

@taxiabey6772 2 жыл бұрын

Yes. Patenting which is already exists is wrong bu Isn’t this discouraging efforts to invest money on gene isolation and innovation. What about the risk which took by the companies who spent millions without knowing they would succeed of isolating genes or finding a process to detect it?

@Tockwoods 6 жыл бұрын

I'm in love with this woman. Jesus Christ.

@sayuas4293 8 жыл бұрын

i love the aclu.

@highestsettings 8 жыл бұрын

It's not really a complex question though is it? A complex question requires a complex answer and the answer to this question is quite simply no.

@ameliaz315 8 жыл бұрын

Orphan Black is a reality now, guys

@MrSeansmith111 8 жыл бұрын

I was going to say no, because nature already had all possible working configurations on file. Owning people is bad too.

@myllenelopes6966 8 жыл бұрын

Orphan Black confirmed that !!1!

@SilentControlX 8 жыл бұрын

she keeps readin.

@NeonsStyleHD 8 жыл бұрын

NO!

@HELLADJ 8 жыл бұрын

@-KillaWatt- 8 жыл бұрын

The technique yes. Summer teeth and blew eyes shouldn't be.

@DigitalWraith 8 жыл бұрын

*THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LET THE RICH RUN WILD, UNCHALLENGED.*

@xXbudred123Xx 8 жыл бұрын

No.

@sbellaharris 7 жыл бұрын

same goes to CRISPR, it should never be patented.

@Jerkix 8 жыл бұрын

Next to go - software patents.

@procrasti86 8 жыл бұрын

Good thing TED's on youtube. On a topic big as this one, Tania had a surprisingly small audience. A bit unfair compared to how many people did the feminists get to reach out to, with their selfish nonsense.

@Universal1able 8 жыл бұрын

I call dibs on webbed feet

@jimdavis5400 2 жыл бұрын

If you are considered a transhuman then are you not a human anymore? Do your Human Rights still apply if you are transhuman?

@Yaddlezap Жыл бұрын

You shouldn't be able to patent anything. Period. Intellectual property is artificial scarcity that infringes upon real, scarce property rights.

@delawarecop 8 жыл бұрын

Patenting knowledge ought to be banned - however people ought to be able to patent and license for a fair price - their specific application of that knowledge. So although they cannot patent a human gene, they can patent a medication that acts on a particular gene or protein of the gene function. Max Planck revealed Quantum Theory to the world, but it would have been foolish to give Max a patent on quanta, because then he would have licensing rights to everything contained in the universe.

@Michaelalweis 8 жыл бұрын

It should be patented by God...

@isaiahjankowski5493 3 жыл бұрын

so some company owns my life-stuuff!!!!! wtah

@Lexi1126923 8 жыл бұрын

Notice how these patents only affect women's health. The amount of misogyny in science and medicine is so disheartening.

@Kongolox 8 жыл бұрын

Any life saving medicine should not be patent, or atleast should be provided to those who with life threatening symptoms. No one should die because they cant afford the medicine or the travel to where the cure is. And i am glade they won. :D

@mjmmorales 14 күн бұрын

Of course I looked this up because of orphan Black echoes .But seriously this video was posted over 8 years ago 🤔 I wonder what they're doing now?? Accept Jesus now while it's still A Free gift and we're still under grace 📖➕🕊️

@user-mq3ts7lr9l 6 жыл бұрын

If you invented it, so like introducing a new immunity with synthetic DNA, and it's new because say it uses X and Y in addition to ACTG or the sequence doesn't naturally occurring within the human species, then yes. The patent will provide you with a temporary monopoly so you can profit from your work. With every breakthrough, someone always profits, regardless of what the economic system in place is, somebody in the supply chain makes a lot of money, why shouldn't it be the scientist? It's time for little Einstein to drive a Ferrari as well.