CBAC Response to The Ottawa Citizen - Parliament Must Set Rules for Plant, Animal Patents

One of the arguments against allowing a patent the “onco-mouse” itself is that it opens the door to patenting of genetically modified human beings.

This is exactly why the first draft recommendation in the November interim report of the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee (CBAC) on Patenting of Higher Life Forms called on Parliament to include in the Patent Act a statement that human beings are not patentable.

We also proposed that plants and non-human animals should be patentable under certain specified conditions, which we identified in the interim report. In doing so, we addressed a number of the same concerns raised in the Supreme Court hearing, such as the rights of animals, protection of the environment, and the role of patents in an innovative economy. Our report, to be released next month, makes recommendations suggesting possible solutions to these issues.

It is the committee’s opinion that Parliament, following a full and open public debate, should decide whether to extend the Patent Act to apply to plants and non-human animals and, if so, under what conditions, regardless of the ruling of the Supreme Court in this particular case.