OPENING OF INTERNATIONAL
SYMPOSIUM “ETHICS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND GENOMICS”
Paris, January 30 (No.2001-14)
- UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today reiterated the importance of
the principle of free access to information pertaining to the human genome while
recognizing that “this principle does not solve all the problems posed by
intellectual property rights linked to genetics”. Mr Matsuura was speaking at
the opening of the International Symposium Ethics, Intellectual Property and
Genomics. at UNESCO Headquarters in the presence of more than 200
researchers, legal experts, philosophers, and representatives of national and
international organizations.
The Director-General said: “Ethics
are essential in UNESCO’s present thinking and have a uniquely important place
within the human community and the community of nations. If the 20th century has
focused on matter, the 21st century will, no doubt, focus on life. In just a few
decades, our knowledge of living organisms and of the world around us has been
turned upside down by discoveries with tremendous ramifications. […] Yet,
though advances in biomedicine are giving rise to unparalleled optimism, they
raise doubts as to their moral legitimacy. Is everything that can be done
technically acceptable from an ethical point of view?”
Mr Matsuura spoke of the
Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights adopted in 1997 by
UNESCO’s General Conference, “the first universal instrument in the field of
biology, medicine and genetics.” He quoted its first article which
symbolically gives the human genome “world heritage” status. He added: “Whatever
protection must be given to invention - and [such protection] is, naturally
needed - another sacred principle must govern the application of the amazing
progress achieved in the field of human gene sequencing: [the prinicple of] free
access to raw data in this field, a principle which is included in the framework
of knowledge dissemination and sharing.”
The Director-General spoke of
the position taken by the G-8 Summit in July 2000 and of the Declaration adopted
by the United Nations General Assembly during last year’s Millennium Summit,
which reiterate the need to ensure free access to data about the human genome.
He added: “Indispensable as it is, this principle does not solve all the
problems raised by intellectual protection in genetics. Progress in gene
sequencing, and not only regarding the human genome, opens dizzying vistas in
the fields of agriculture, medicine, and industry.”
Mr Matsuura stressed that the
positions of the various players concerned - industrialists, public research
institutes, patent offices, researchers and legislators - sometimes evolve “to
the point of contradicting themselves”. He also declared: “Conditions are
met for increased confusion and for the unleashing of a patent war, of a
fierceness commensurate with the convictions and interests involved.” But, he
added, “I also believe that the conditions are also met for a reconsidering,
stock-taking, a dispassionate confrontation of current opinions, policies and
practices.”
Ryuichi Ida, Chairperson of
UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee (IBC), recalled that news of the
sequencing of practically the entire human genome last June paved the way for
“improved human well-being, thanks to the medical application of genetic
research” but also gave rise to concern about the possible “commercialisation
of the human being and of the human body.” After highlighting that “genetically
modified organisms are the subject of intellectual property ownership by various
private corporations,” he recalled that one of the fundamental questions of
the symposium was [whether] “the concept of intellectual property can be
applied to the human genome”. He argued that this question should be addressed
in the light of the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights.
Marcelo Palacios, President of
the International Society of Bioethics (SIBI), made an extensive presentation on
the history and economics of biotechnology, recalling that it already existed in
antiquity and that, with recent industrial developments, the sector had reached
the value of 103 billion euros in 2000. He raised questions about the
responsibilities of actors in this sector and about the dearth of public
information. He stressed that it was his conviction that the more is known about
bioethics, “the more there is of a bioethics culture,” and the easier it
will be to form “a universal Pact of civility concerning the rational
utilization of biotechnology […] in the interest of the sustainable
development of all of humanity.”
This morning the first session
- Ethics and the Protection of Intellectual Property - sought to define
the general ethical context, prior to discussing more specific and technical
topics. The legal aspect of the issue was to be treated in today’s afternoon
session on the State-of-the-art on Legislative Texts or Regulations Enforced
or under Consideration, chaired by Nicole Questiaux, Chairperson of the
Conference of National Bioethics Committees of the Council of Europe.
A roundtable - Overview of
the Approaches of Prominent National and International Institutions, on the
morning of January 31 - will confront several different approaches. 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). Aiming to bring together the ideas and suggestions
formulated earlier, 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?
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