This Blog Post Breaks U.S. Law

[c9]

• The Earth revolves around the Sun.

• The speed of light is a constant.

• Apples fall to earth because of gravity.

• Elevated blood sugar is linked to diabetes.

• Elevated uric acid is linked to gout.

• Elevated homocysteine is linked to heart disease.

• Elevated homocysteine is linked to B-12 deficiency, so doctors should test homocysteine levels to see whether the patient needs vitamins.

ACTUALLY, I can't make that last statement. A corporation has patented that fact, and demands a royalty for its use. Anyone who makes the fact public and encourages doctors to test for the condition and treat it can be sued for royalty fees. Any doctor who reads a patient's test results and even thinks of vitamin deficiency infringes the patent. A federal circuit court held that mere thinking violates the patent.

Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, and many other popular novels, has something to say about U.S. patent laws. He may be a complete and utter charlatan when it comes to environmental issues*, but on this one he's bang on.

* An essay on Michael Crichton and Global Warming (PDF)

Comments

[ex-thrasymac191.livejournal.com]

But it's not, "people get sick without this vitamin", it's "a deficiency of this particular vitamin can be identified because of its correlation to the amount of this particular thing", and what would someone's incentive to discover that correlation in the first place be if they weren't able to profit from it in some way? Altruism? Not a lot of drive in that engine. Where would a salary for them come from so that they could focus on biochemistry instead of holding their place in a breadline so their children wouldn't starve? No company could justify paying it if they wouldn't be able to profit from their work by selling it in some way. It would be like the Soviet Union, and I will take my cyanide pill before I eject over that territory.

[c9.livejournal.com]

I strongly suspect that if today's patent structure were in place earlier in the 1900s, many things we take for granted as being gone (polio, smallpox) would be only gone for the rich. I would not be surprised at all to learn that there's already a vaccine for malaria which is not being distributed; there would be no way to profit from it, only poor people get malaria.

For comparison, Bill Gates has stated that the patent structure we see today would have made DOS and Windows almost impossible, and left us 20 years behind on the technology curve.

In my naivete I wish altruism was enough. :)