Are there some things that can’t be owned? Leukemia patient John Moore would answer yes. After Moore had his cancerous spleen removed at the University of California–Los Angeles, the university kept the spleen and was eventually granted a patent for DNA removed from the organ. The value of the DNA was estimated to be more than $1 billion. When Moore demanded his cells from his spleen be returned, the California Supreme Court ruled against him, saying that he had no right to his own cells after they had been removed from his body. Pharmaceutical researchers, like those at the University of California, often hope to later license the DNA patterns or sell them to other companies so they may use them to develop drugs or tests for the presence of disease.

Does a person or a group of people who have a specific, perhaps unique gene have ownership of that genetic information? Do they deserve payment? Do they have a right to a voice in the use of their genetic material? Or are their interests trumped by the value of such discoveries to the greater good?