Gene patents

There is nothing quite like the patenting of human genes to attract the ire of biomedical researchers, clinicians and members of the public. How is it, they will ask, that a thing that is so much a part of us, that has pre-existed in the natural world since time immemorial, could possibly be owned by someone? Yet it is the case that patents giving exclusive rights to use DNA sequences, proteins, stem cells and other research materials, and to the use of associated methods, have been granted in many jurisdictions around the world, including in Australia, for many years.