The Autonomy of the Human Body in the Age of Biotechnology
![handle is hein.journals/ucollr61 and id is 669 raw text is: THE AUTONOMY OF THE HUMAN BODY IN
THE AGE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
Advances in biotechnology' have caused a surge in the research
and development of biomedical products derived from human mate-
rial.2 These developments hold promise for fighting many of the ma-
jor diseases of our time. They also create a great deal of responsibility
for scientists, lawyers, and lawmakers, as they may have significant
commercial potential. [W]e have irretrievably entered an age that
requires examination of our understanding of the legal rights and rela-
tionships in the human body and the human cell.3
The revolution of biotechnology has been called one of the most
important developments affecting industry in the twentieth century.4
The growing commerciality in the biotechnology industry can be par-
tially attributed to the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Dia-
mond v. Chakrabarty,5 which extended patent protection to genetically
engineered organisms. The result of Chakrabarty has been a substan-
tial increase in patent applications for commercial products derived
from human biological materials.
A survey conducted by the House of Representatives Subcommit-
tee on Investigation and Oversight revealed that forty-nine percent of
all researchers at responding medical schools were using human bio-
l. Biotechnology has been broadly defined as the manipulation of micro-organisms to produce
a wide variety of products, from medicines to industrial enzymes. Tompkin, Capitalizing in Life, Sci.
DIG., June 1986, at 35. Included in the technologies collected under the term are tissue and cell cul-
ture, cell fusion, and recombinant DNA. Tissue and cell culture are merely the cultivation of micro-
organisms in a specific medium. In both of these cultivation processes the cells being cultured may be
isolated directly from an organism, or they may be strains improved through mutation, selection, or
genetic engineering. See A. LIGHTLY, INFORMATION SOURCES IN BIOTECHNOLOGY 7, 8 (1983).
Cell fusion is a method involving the fusing of cells together to endow one cell type with properties
of the other cell. See M. LEvIN, G. KIDD, J. SWARZ & R. ZOUGG, APPLIED GENETIC ENGINEERING,
FUTURE TRENDS AND PROBLEMS 11 (1983) [hereinafter APPLIED GENETIC ENGINEERING]. Recom-
binant DNA technology involves isolating fragments of DNA from seperate sources and splicing them
into a functional unit. The most promising technique seems to be joining DNA segments from different
organisms, such as humans and bacteria. See APPLIED GENETIC ENGINEERING, supra, at 5, 6.
2. The Development of Biomedical Products From Human Biological Materials Hearings Before
the Subcomm. on Investigations and Oversight of the House Comm. on Science and Technology, 99th
Cong., 1st Sess. 4 (1985) [hereinafter Hearings] (statement of Harold L. Volkner, Chairman).
3. Moore v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 215 Cal. App. 3d 709, 249 Cal. Rptr. 494, cert granted,
763 P.2d 479 (Cal. 1988).
4. Schneider, Microorganisms and the Patent Office: To Deposit or Not to Deposit, That is the
Question, 52 FORDHAM L. REv. 592 (1984).
5. 447 U.S. 303 (1980). The Court concluded that patentable subject matter includes anything
under the sun that is made by man. Id. at 309.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ucollr61&div=31&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Autonomy of the Human Body in the Age of Biotechnology
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