- OTTAWA - Harvard University
is taking the federal government to court over a genetically-engineered
mouse.
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- Scientists at Harvard's Medical School developed a process
in the early 1980s to produce special mice for cancer research.
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- The mice are genetically modified so that they are predisposed
to get cancer. Researchers say the mice are an invaluable tool to understanding
the disease and developing new treatment options.
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- But Harvard wants to patent the process that produces
the mice. The patent would also cover the actual mice and any offspring
which may inherit the modified gene.
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- Lawyers for the federal government argue that patents
are for inventions and Harvard didn't invent the mice.
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- "It's impossible to look at something like any non
and human mammal and consider it within the ordinary meaning of the word
invention to be an invention," says government lawyer Rick Woyiwada.
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- The university lost the first round in its battle. The
case is now before the Federal Appeals Court.
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- Arthur Schafer, a medical ethicist at the University
of Manitoba says if Harvard wins it would set a dangerous precedent that
science could be for sale.
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- "It's part of a transformation process whereby modern
scientific research instead of being the impartial search for the truth
instead has become the pursuit of profit."
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- But this may be one battle Canada is fighting alone.
The United States and Japan have already granted a patent and Europe may
be joining them.
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