Dette aktualiserer NTNUs positive høringsuttalelse om EUs patentdirektiv.
Jeg har tidligere tidligere kritisert NTNUs behandling av denne saka
i kollegiet, se side 16,
<http://www.ntnu.no/kollegiet/protokoll/1999/19991012.pdf>,
også vedlagt helt nederst.
Klippet under er fra The Sydney Mornig Herald, 16/12-99, opprinnelig fra
The Guardian, UK.
Trond Andresen
> Gene patents putting profits before cures
>
> Washington: Vital medical research aimed at developing screening
> methods and cures for congenital diseases is being stifled by the
> rush to patent human genes and the corporate use of those
> patents to maximise profits.
>
> A poll of American laboratory directors found that a quarter of
> them had received letters from lawyers acting for biotechnology
> companies ordering them to stop carrying out clinical tests
> designed to spot early warning signs for Alzheimer's disease,
> breast cancer and an array of other disorders.
>
> Although the sharpest impact on scientific research has been in
> the US, under World Trade Organisation rules many of the
> patents are applicable worldwide. They could inhibit
> ground-breaking studies in other scientific centres.
>
> So great is the perceived threat to medical research that a group
> of American doctors and scientists have issued a protest saying:
> "The use of patents or exorbitant licensing fees to prevent
> physicians and clinical laboratories from performing genetic tests
> limits access to medical care, jeopardises the quality of medical
> care and unreasonably raises its cost."
>
> According to the survey by researchers in California and
> Pennsylvania, half the laboratories questioned said they had
> stopped work on developing screening because they knew a
> patent had been licensed or was pending.
>
> Some of the research scientists who pioneered work on isolating
> and identifying genetic deformities linked to serious diseases are
> now saying the pace of research and the spread of ideas has been
> stultified by the fear of being sued by patent licence holders.
>
> "I've been at conferences where we have been addressed by
> patent lawyers and told to stop showing our colleagues our
> notebooks, or think twice about submitting an abstract at a
> meeting," said Mr Jonathan King, a genetic researcher at the
> Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
>
> The patenting of genes dates from a Supreme Court ruling in
> 1980 that permitted patenting of some organisms found in nature.
> But the granting of such patents has taken off only in recent years
> after a series of breakthroughs in deciphering genetic codes.
>
> The survey of US laboratory directors, which has yet to be
> published, offers the strongest evidence so far that the "gene
> rush" to take out patents on the human genetic code is beginning
> to inhibit research that aims to turn the explosive growth in
> genetic knowledge into practical ways of identifying inherited
> disorders and finding cures.
>
> The Guardian
**********************************************
Fra P R O T O K O L L fra Kollegiets møte 12.10.99:
......
Eventuelt.
1. Trond Andresen tok opp spørsmål knyttet til NTNUs høringsuttalelse ang.
Europaparlamentets og Rådets direktiv 98/44 EF om rettslig beskyttelse av
bioteknologiske oppfinnelser (brev fra NTNU til Justisdepartementet 23.06.99).
Trond Andresen, Kjell Evjen, Kristin Grimstad og Bente Rasmussen ba om følgende
protokolltilførsel:
"EUs patentdirektiv er, uansett hva man måtte mene om det, omstridt.
Forskjellige akademiske miljøer er engasjerte i denne saken. Dette
engasjementet har et vidt spekter av innfallsvinkler, f. eks.
industriutvikling,
frihet til å forske, etiske vurderinger. Det var derfor uheldig at ikke alle enheter
som er relevante i denne sammenheng fikk være med på høringsprosessen ved
NTNU, og at man ikke fikk dette til behandling i Kollegiet, NTNUs øverste
organ."
Trond Andresen ba om følgende protokolltilførsel:
"Siden NTNU har uttalt seg positivt om EUs patentdirektiv uten at dette er
behandlet av NTNUs høyeste organ, Kollegiet, ønsker jeg å markere at jeg
mener Norge bør benytte sin vetorett mot dette direktivet i henhold til
EØS-avtalen."
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