Without patents, companies would simply keep their research into human genetics secret. But for most opponents of the directive, none of this matters much. It is easy to see why people are swayed by emotive arguments that equate human DNA with life itself. This is not to deny that there are risks attached to human genetics research or that there are difficult ethical and moral problems here. The real question is whether patents have a big part to play in dealing with these problems.
Many protagonists seem to take it for granted that they do.
They seem to believe that it makes perfect sense to try to turn patent laws into a barometer of what is right and wrong. Key aspects of the technologies that brought us nuclear bombs, nerve gases, electric chairs and land mines have all been patented this century. Nobody ever understood this to signal that the moral issues had been resolved. That is because we have other laws and conventions that deal with these things. There was no need for such an exclusion because once again we have other laws that prohibit moves in this direction.