Duff regrets Parliament decision to restrict human gene patents

2.09.02pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 27th Oct 2005

Andrew Duff, Liberal Democrat MEP for the East of England, today criticised a decision of the European Parliament to restrict the scope of patents in the biotechnology field when related to human genes and parts of the human body. He regrets that the Parliament did not support the existing monitoring regime for scientific research, industry and medicine.

The debate centred on how to interpret the Biotechnological Inventions Directive, and in particular on whether to prohibit patents for human beings covers parts (such as sperm) even in isolation.

Speaking after the vote, Andrew Duff said:

"After the recent enlargement of the Parliament to include MEPs from Central and Eastern Europe the balance of opinion on science and technology has clearly swung to the right.

"The East of England hosts some of Europe's most advanced biotech institutes and companies. The success of our cluster is crucial to Europe's future competitiveness and to improvements in public health. It is time for all those who support progress in science and technology to work together to combat this conservative slide. European science needs a modern and permissive regulatory regime if it is to lead world research."

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