Patenting the Minotaur?

In a marriage of modern law and ancient mythology, a cell biologist and a long-time critic of biotechnology have filed for a broad patent on the making of human-animal chimeras. "We're challenging the patent system," says cell biologist Stuart A. Newman of New York Medical College in Valhalla, who is joined on the patent application by Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, D.C.

Since a controversial 1980 Supreme Court decision that living creatures are patentable, scientists and companies have patented many genetically engineered life-forms. Even though Newman and Rifkin oppose all such patenting, they hope to use this legal maneuver to prevent, or at least delay, any use of chimeras created by fusing human and animal embryonic cells. Such creatures have not been made yet, but Newman says they will soon be feasible. Examples of such chimeras might include pigs growing human organs for transplants or chimpanzee-human chimeras to be used for pharmaceutical testing.

"This is not a legal issue. It's a public policy issue. If we're going to have a policy of patenting these types of creatures, it ought to be based on a more vigorous public debate than we've had to date," says Patrick J. Coyne, a Washington, D.C., lawyer representing Newman and Rifkin in their patent application.