Ownership of genetic material and information

Joke I. de Witte and Henk Ten Have

Social Science & Medicine, 1997, vol. 45, issue 1, 51-60

Abstract: As a result of the International Human Genome Project genetic information is rapidly multiplying. To avoid some of the problems regarding the availability and use of genetic information, it is sometimes suggested to apply the concept of ownership. This article focuses on the clarification of the status of genetic material and genetic information, obtained as a result of screening and counseling of individual patients. First, some philosophical theories of ownership are examined for a justification of the use of the concept of ownership with regard to the human body. Next, arguments with regard to ownership of the human body are examined. The results of this analysis are applied to genetic material and genetic information.

Keywords: ownership; property; genetic; material; genetic; information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(96)00309-7
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:45:y:1997:i:1:p:51-60

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().