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European
Parliament
rejects
patents on life
0n
1 March, the European Parliament permanently shelved the proposed European Union
(EU) Directive on 'The Legal Protection of Biotechnological
Inventions’ which would have made it legal in the EU to patent life forms
(plants, animals and even human genetic material). The plenary voted by a
large majority to reject the proposal: 188 in favour of the Directive, 240
against and 23 abstentions. The strong swing against the proposal came from the socialist group, which abandoned the Directive’s
rapporteur, German
socialist Willy Rothley.
Two
themes stood out during the final and very tense debate:
-
it is unethical to permit the patentability of human genetic material and germline therapy (altering the genetic identity of future generations), as the final text would have allowed;
-
there is much opposition within the general public against patenting of life forms.
The
decision is a victory for non-governmental organisations who have long
campaigned against the patenting of life. Rene Vellvé from Genetic Resources Action
(GRAIN) documented: “Back in 1988, we started off raising awareness against
the Directive for a broad range of reasons: its potential impact on farming,
food security, scientific research
GRAIN press release 2/3/95.