Patricia, I think your posts helps us get closer to understanding the core
issue. The right of a governmental authority to patent a biological
"product" - I THINK - is the issue here. Patenting human milk (or components
thereof) is reprehensible, and on this I fully agree with Valerie and
others.
Who (what body, law, court decisions, etc) gives the Patenting Authority
(the US Patent Office??) the right to apply International Patent Law to
human milk components? I would like to take my opposition to patenting
living tissue to the appropriate source. Once a duly-authorized Patenting
Authority takes action to issue a patent, then national and international
patent laws come into force. As IBCLC's, we are required to obey "the laws
of the land." I might disagree vigorously with a certain law, but I'm still
legally compelled to obey it or face the consequences of disobeying it (as
Rosa Parks did).
If a citizen wants to challenge a law, there are legal ways to do so. For
example, juries sometimes apply the principle of "jury nullification" in
certain criminal trials. This means the Jury doesn't convict or acquit the
defendant, but instead rules that the LAW itself - which is being used as
the basis of determining whether the defendant broke the law - is illegal.
My understanding is that "jury nullification" was used in support of the
medical use of marijuana in some states, overturning some "illegal to
possess marijuana" laws. When my husband was last called for jury duty, he
was specifically asked if he supported the principle of "jury
nullification."
I want to (and intend to) "bark up the right tree." Complaining to IBLCE and
ILCA has resulted in a vigorous discussion, and that's all well and good
because it's helped to clarify the core issues. However, neither IBLCE nor
ILCA are "Patenting Authorities." Complaining to DHHS or other agencies
might also be a dead end, because government agencies are required to
enforce existing laws. They can't change the existing laws, and they cannot
"lobby" congress to make sensible changes in existing laws. Any pressure to
change laws or enact new laws must come from outside bodies such as
non-governmental organizations, lobbyists, individuals, etc.
Again, I come back to my original question - on what authority does the
Patenting Authority (whoever or whatever that body is) claim the right to
patent biological "products," specifically components of human milk? What
laws (if any) grant this right, and what limits (if any) are contained in
those laws?
ILCA is a not-for-profit organization; so is IBLCE. That means they are
limited in the amount of lobbying than can do. Taking this a step further -
if ILCA or IBLCE can only do a 'little' lobbying, is this issue the most
important one to tackle? Or should these organizations be lobbying for, say,
insurance coverage for professional lactation care, a Code of Marketing
covering breastmilk substitutes, or some other issue?
I don't have the answers to these questions, and realize that these might
not be the ONLY questions we should be asking and tossing around about this
issue.
Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre Ltd
6540 Cedarview Ct, Dayton OH 45459
ph 937-438-9458 www.BFLRC.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Patricia Sergi-Swinehart MSN, IBCLC [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 7:51 AM
Subject: Tenet 25
Marsha writes:
"We really shouldn't be arguing over this.
We all agree on it. Really! "
I must reply that we do not all agree. If it is possible to patent human
milk components, then that calls into question the entire system of seeking,
approving, profiting from, and "respecting" patents. I remember how, about
10 to
15 years ago, I opened LLL meetings about the benefits of breastfeeding by
reading a paragraph from Gabrielle Palmer's The Politics of Breastfeeding.
It is
in the beginning of Chapter 1, "Why Breastfeeding is Political." It talks
about a wonderful substance that prevents and cures disease, provides
nutrition,
etc, and about how if this substance were discovered and marketed, how the
inventors would become heroes and millionaires. About how this is the
miracle
and wonder of human milk and its provision by women to their babies. Well,
I,
for one, will not respect a system that has found a way to "own" and market
this "substance."
Patricia Sergi-Swinehart, MSN, ARNP,BC, IBCLC
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