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Biotech / Medical : Trinity Biotech (TRIBY) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Keiko who wrote (7452)	11/27/1997 11:01:00 AM
From: AgAuUSA	Respond to of 14328

Europe drafts biotechnology patent rules Copyright c 1997 Nando.net Copyright c 1997 Reuters BRUSSELS (November 27, 1997 10:59 a.m. EST nando.net) - The European Union moved closer to resolving an emotional debate over genetic engineering Thursday when ministers agreed on rules governing patents for biotechnology inventions. The debate, raging for almost 10 years, has pitted gene technology critics' rhetoric about "Frankenstein monsters" against dire warnings from Europe's biotech firms that legislation was needed to save the industry. "This is a quantum leap," Lorenz Schomerus, state secretary in Germany's economics ministry, said after the text was endorsed by EU internal market ministers. "It averts the danger that research institutions will leave Europe." The new rules, which must be approved by the European Parliament before final adoption, allow patents for inventions such as tomatoes that have been genetically altered to resist decay or animals that have been engineered for medical research purposes. But, after much wrangling with critics who raised ethical concerns about the "commercialisation of life," including Eurodeputies, the ministers inserted several safeguards. For example, patents are not allowed for procedures to clone human beings, commercial use of human embryos, genetic engineering that causes animal suffering without "substantial medical benefit" or therapies that would transmit genetic changes to a person's descendants. They are also barred when scientists simply discover a body part such as the specific makeup, or sequence, of a gene. But, in one of the most controversial provisions, patents are allowed for body parts when researchers find a way to reproduce them outside the body. EU officials said they expected smooth sailing in the European Parliament since the ministers took on board the bulk of the assembly's proposed amendments. The parliament, which takes a keen interest in gene technology issues, vetoed an earlier version of the legislation in 1995 because of ethical concerns, delaying adoption for several years. An official at EuropaBio, a biotech industry group, had not yet seen the text agreed by ministers. But the group had previously welcomed the way the legislation was shaping up. The industry argues that strong patent protection is needed to protect its investments in research and development. However, some environmental and citizens groups are still hoping to overturn the proposal. In a statement issued by the Greens in the European Parliament, Irish deputy Nuala Ahern called it an "early Christmas present for industry" that will "grant monopoly commercial control over human gene sequences as well as plants and animals." -- By SUZANNE PERRY, Reuters