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Thom's blog
Is your DNA someone else's intellectual property?
Today, the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether human DNA can be patented, and be considered intellectual property. Currently, companies, universities, and other scientific group hold patents on at least 4,000 human genes. The ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation challenged gene patents held by Myriad Genetics, arguing that human DNA is a product of nature, and no one should have the right to consider genes intellectual property.
The specific genes which Myraid holds patents on are BRCA1 and BRCA2, which account for a substantial portion of inherited types of breast and ovarian cancers. Lori Andrews, a law professor at Chicago-Kent College, wrote an amicus brief on behalf of the American Medical Association, which reads, “Myriad's exclusive control has led to the misdiagnosis of patients and has precluded the deployment of improved genetic tests.”
These patents inhibit researchers' ability to discover medical tests and cures, and they limit doctors' ability to determine the best treatment for patients. In addition to making care less effective, it's simply unacceptable for one company to have intellectual property rights on our genes. Hopefully, the Supreme Court agrees that no one should own our DNA.
-Thom
(What do you think? Tell us here.) |
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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 9pm... Boston Marathon bombing (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT, and catch past shows on Youtube)
Need To Know: Boston Marathon bombing- Barry Nolan, Journalist & Professor-Boston University 
Screwed: How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour- Les Leopold, "How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour: Why Hedge Funds Get Away with Siphoning Off America's Wealth"
The Best of the Rest...
Daily Take: Will solar power doom U.S. utility companies?
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Friday's Daily Stack 
Hour One: Compassionate Conservatism? 10 years in prison for doctors who aid terminally ill patients in dying- Bradley Williams, Montanans Against Assisted Suicide.
Brainmapping and ADHD- Dr. William Stixrud, Clinical Neuropsychologist / Member-Adjunct Faculty, Children’s National Medical Center and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry-George Washington School of Medicine / Author-"Plain Talk about Early Education and Development".
Hour Two: "Anything Goes Friday!"
Hour Three: "Anything Goes Friday!"
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Monday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET
Hour One: Thom Hartmann vs. Wayne Root - Obamageddon- Wayne Root, Libertarian Commentator/Author, latest: "The Ultimate Obama Survival Guide: How to Survive, Thrive, and Prosper During Obamageddon"
Hour Two: Police stings...are they entrapment?
Hour Three: Boston Marathon bombed
And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...
The Thom Hartmann Program...your media support group for "we the people"...
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Tuesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET
I'll challenge conservative talk show host Rusty Humphries in a special simulcast of The Thom Hartmann Program AND The Rusty Humphries Show...for 30 minutes we'll be talking issues of the day and we'll be taking your questions too...
Plus, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...
The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...
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Thom's Poll
Should human genes be considered intellectual property?
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Watch & Listen to Thom
Watch the Full "Big Picture" Show...
Full Show 4/12/13: The Key To Saving Humanity
Guest host Sam Sacks is in for Thom Hartmann tonight and discusses Stephen Hawking's key to saving humanity, the latest from Arkansas' tar sands oil spill and how even Republicans are against cutting social security -- all that and more in tonight's "Big Picture Rumble." In tonight's "Conversations with Great Minds" Thom talks with Trevor Aaronson, author of the new book "The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI's Manufactured War on Terrorism."
Thom Hartmann on the News: April 12, 2013
Jim Javinsky fills in for Thom Hartmann commenting on the news for Friday, April 12, 2013.
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 Would you like to help give a child with a very troubled background this feeling of peace? Thom and Louise Hartmann founded the New England Salem Children's Village (NESCV) in New Hampshire in 1979. With states delaying payment for the children they entrust to the village, they need help with cash flow. Can you help? Now on Facebook. |
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