OTTAWA, ONTARIO, May 6, 2003 – Within days of mapping out the genome of the SARS virus, the British Columbia Cancer Agency (BCCA) has filed for a patent of the DNA sequence of SARS, seeking legal rights to all of the virus’ genes.

“This patent application goes to the very core of the patenting of lifeforms debate which Canada found itself at the centre of last year during the Oncomouse Supreme Court case,” says Nadège Adam, campaigner for the Council of Canadians.

In early December of last year, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned a Federal Court’s decision to award Harvard University intellectual property rights on the genetically-engineered Oncomouse – a rodent engineered to develop cancer for the purpose of research. Since Canadian law does not have language that would determine whether anyone has the right to patent a lifeform, the Supreme Court also strongly suggested that Parliament undertake a comprehensive revision of federal patenting laws, to update them and to address the ethical questions that the patenting of life represents.

“Though Industry Minister Allan Rock told us in December that he planned to address the matter, we have yet to see any movement on the part of the federal government on this file,” adds Adam. “Meanwhile, scientific discoveries continue to take place, forcing scientific groups such as the British Columbia Cancer Agency to take matters into their own hands by blocking corporations from patenting the virus to keep this information within reach of the scientific community.”

The Council of Canadians is only one of many groups that have been pressing the federal government to address this question.

“This is definitely not a problem that will go away by itself. We ask once again that the government updates the legislation to reflect today’s reality. This legislation dates from last century when only inanimate and material objects were being considered”, concluded Adam. “Canada must ban the patenting of lifeforms and preserve what has traditionally been considered a common good for all to share.”

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