BLAIR AND CLINTON ACT TO PREVENT GENE PATENTS

J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Mon, 27 Sep 1999 13:41:43 -0700

BLAIR AND CLINTON ACT TO PREVENT GENE PATENTS:

Tony Blair and Bill Clinton are working to come up with an Anglo-American agreement to prevent the patenting of the human genetic code. Initiated by Mr Blair, the deal aims to ensure the rapid worldwide access of raw gene sequence data. The move has been welcomed by the Wellcome Trust which, together with its US partners - has been insistent that one condition of its support is that all such data is made publicly available within 24 hours.

Lord Sainsbury and Neal Lane, Bill Clinton's science and technology advisor, have been discussing the possibility of turning the Bermuda accord - an informal agreement to release all research on human genes without claiming patents - into a full inter-governmental agreement. Negotiations were conducted in Kyoto in Japan and Williamsburg in the US during the Carnegie group summits of G8 science ministers.

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