INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM AT
UNESCO TO DEBATE “ETHICS,
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND GENOMICS”
Paris, January 24 (No.2001-11)-
An International Symposium on Ethics, Intellectual Property and Genomics
will bring together some 100 scientists, legal experts, philosophers, and
representatives from national and international organizations at UNESCO from
January 30 to February 1 to debate the controversial issue of the legitimacy of
patenting living organisms.
What are the issues that arise
when the principles of patenting are applied to that which makes a human being?
What rules should we preserve, modify or develop? Some consider that fundamental
knowledge of gene sequences cannot be understood to be an invention and that,
for this very reason, such knowledge cannot be patented. Moreover, they argue,
permitting the patenting of gene sequences would hinder further research on
genes and widen the existing gap between developed and developing countries.
The Symposium should open up
ways of reconciling basic ethical principles, the dynamics of post-genomic
research, the legitimate interests of industry, the protection of inventors, and
equity as a principle governing both access to scientific information and
application to populations of the results of scientific research.
On the morning of January 30,
the first session - Ethics and the Protection of Intellectual Property, chaired
by Michèle Jean, former Canadian Deputy Minister for Health - will aim to
define the general ethical context, prior to the discussion of more specific and
technical topics. The session will feature addresses by Mireille Buydens, lawyer
and Professor at the Catholic University of Leuven and the Open University of
Brussels (Belgium); Axel Kahn, Director of the Department of
Genetics, Institut Cochin (Paris, France), Chairperson of the High-level Group
of Experts for the Life Sciences at the European Commission; the consultant
Elizabeth Longworth, (New Zealand) and Dr. Audrey Chapman,
Director, Science and Human Rights Program, American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS).
The afternoon session - chaired
by Nicole Questiaux, Chairperson of the Conference of National Bioethics
Committees of the Council of Europe - will examine the State-of-the-art on
Legislative Texts or Regulations Enforced or under Consideration. Taking
part in this review will be: Tim Holbrook, Professeur at Chicago Kent College of
Law (US); Hector Gros Espiell (Uruguay), Professor of International Law; Koichi
Sumikura, Professor of Science, Technology and Intellectual Property, University
of Tokyo (Japan); and Jacques Warcoin, Patent Lawyer, Cabinet Regimbeau
(France).
A roundtable - Overview of
the Approaches of Prominent National and International Institutions, on the
morning of January 31 - will confront several different approaches. Moderated by
Najib Zerouali Ouariti¸ Minister of Higher Education, Executive Training and
Scientific Research of Morocco, it will bring together Maria Freire, Director of
the Office of Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health (US); Bruno
Hansen, Director of Life Sciences, Biotechnology, Agriculture and Food at the
Research Directorate-General of the European Commission; Ryuichi Ida,
Chairperson of the International Bioethics Committee of UNESCO (IBC); as well as
representatives of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the
World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD).
The third session, Wednesday
afternoon, will focus on the Specificity of Gene Patenting and will be
chaired by Emmanuel Roucounas, Professor of International Law, at the Academy of
Athens (Greece). Is revealing the expression of a gene tantamount, for instance,
to the discovery of a plant variety’s active principle? Should a distinction
be made between genes and their functions? Five speakers will address these
questions: Samir Kumar Brahmachari, Director of the Centre for Biochemical
Technology of New Delhi (India); Kate Murashige, Attorney at Law, Morrison &
Foester (USA); Marco Segre, Professor of Forensic Medicine and Bioethics at the
University of Sao Paulo, President of the Brazilian Society of Bioethics
(Brazil); Friederike Stolzenburg, Biochemist, Patent Attorney Vossius
& Partners (Germany) and Huanming Yang, Director of the Human
Genome Center, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Secretary General of the
Chinese Human Genome Project.
The fourth session, Thursday
morning, chaired by Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia, will
consider What Type of Legal Framework is Required for the Protection of
Intellectual Property Related to Genomic Research? Aiming to generate ideas
and suggestions, it will bring together: Bernard Edelman, Doctor of Law,
Professor at the University of Paris I (France); Bartha Maria Knoppers,
Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Montreal (Canada); André
Rémond (France), Principal Director of the European Patent Office (Munich) and
Sandy Thomas, Director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics
(United Kingdom).
A summary of the debates will
be presented on Thursday afternoon before the closing session by Maurice Cassier,
Sociologist, Research Fellow at France’s National Centre for
Scientific Research, CNRS, research centre of medicine, health and society, (CERMES).
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For more information see
www.unesco.org/ethics
