The public gets to know the sequence of those 3 billion threads of DNA and the identity of those 100,000 genes, including the known variations. If some researcher uses this road map to link a specific variation to a specific disease, that discovery qualifies as intellectual property, which is what can then be patented. Patents, so the thinking goes, provide the appropriate financial incentive for private companies to press on to produce the cure. Both statements are two sides of the same coin. Everyone gets a shot at the gold.
Nobody gets to monopolize the building blocks of genetic knowledge.
Let us hear from you.