The Consideration Initiative

Who owns your DNA? Is it you, someone else, or nobody?

DNA is like a blueprint that determines your unique qualities such as your eye color, your susceptibility to diseases, and even much of your personality. Until 2013, anyone who isolated a specific gene could apply to patent that unit of naturally occurring human DNA, a policy resulting in thousands of patents on human genes. Patent holders owned the rights to everything from research on the DNA to drug productions related to the DNA. Then the United States Supreme Court ruled against patenting isolated human genes. But did this ruling settle the question? Can someone still own your DNA?

Presented by Taylor Burke and Shannon Myers
Honors sophomores, College of Arts and Sciences