CONGRESS: DON’T TOUCH OUR GENES-ACLU-EEUU

Congress is trying to change the law to allow companies to patent products and laws of nature – including our genes. But human genes are not a commodity that can be owned by any one corporation or person.

Patenting human genes and other laws of nature prevent clinical care, scientific research, innovation, and patient access to critical, life-saving health information like genetic test results. Rather than promoting innovation, patents on the fundamental building blocks of nature stop scientific inquiry and, as we’ve seen before, deny patients information about our health, our genes – our very selves.

We must all urge members of Congress to oppose this draft bill, which threatens the future of patients, families, and everyone who could benefit from genetic discoveries.

Message Recipients: Your U.S. Senators and Representativ

SubjectOppose the proposal to amend Section 101 of the Patent Act

I urge you to oppose the proposal to amend Section 101 of the Patent Act. The legislation would authorize companies to patent human genes and other laws of nature, as well as general fields of knowledge and abstract ideas. This threatens access to information that patients, families, and the entire medical and scientific communities depend on to make decisions about our health and advance medicine. The Supreme Court agreed when it decided unanimously that human genes cannot be patented because they are products of nature.