News,

President Clinton and Mr Tony Blair, the British prime minister, want the findings of the human genome project to be made freely available. The Celera company's project is said to be overtaking government- and charity-backed research. Celera shows its results to its drug company sponsors, which may patent them, before publishing the material. Talks between Celera and the US National Institutes of Health have broken down. Church leaders fear that patenting the results of such work could undermine the sanctity of life. The US patent office has issued about 400 patents on human genes and genome companies have filed for tens of thousands more. The British science-minister has pointed out that inventions, which may be patented, differ from discoveries, which may not. [The Times website and the Daily Mail, 15 March, 2000, Pro-Life E-News, 14 March, 2000] [This bulletin is privately circulated by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, www.spuc.org.uk, 5/6 St Matthew Street, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2JT, +44 20 7222 3763. The reliability of the news herein is dependent on that of the cited sources, which are paraphrased rather than quoted. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the society. Please forward this bulletin to other interested parties. To unsubscribe, send an appropriate email to information@spuc.freeserve.co.uk]