Wisconsin taxpayers and health care groups that are following the recent challenges to UW-Madisonâ??s patents on embryonic stem cell lines may not be fully aware of the much larger and more fundamental issues at stake.
Should human body parts or tissues be patented and then bought and sold to the highest bidder in the marketplace? Human tissue samples are taken from blood tests, biopsies or during surgeries. How many of us really know how many tissue samples we have given away or how they were used? Are informed consent agreements now signed in the donation process legally binding? Lastly, should patients be compensated for allowing another to use her or his human tissue samples?