Collins says the idea of ownership is getting stickier. She points to ethical questions posed by the developing market in human tissues. I m struck by how valuable human materials have become to the biotechnology industry, she says. We think of the human body as beyond price, yet companies expect to compete in the marketplace and expect to pay for the raw materials they need. Even malignant tumors have a market.
Researchers often save cancer ous samples tissue and blood after surgery.
Now these samples are proving valuable for biotech firms looking to profit from new treatments. The question is whether patients who provide samples should, at the least, be told about their potential commercial value and then perhaps compensated. In California, a patient whose spleen was removed during cancer treatment sued his doctor and the University of California because they used his spleen and other tissues to make money without telling him. He claimed the spleen belonged to him, even after its removal. Therefore, he had a right to a share of the profits.