The European Parliament has condemned the European Patent Office for awarding patents for products involving human genes and embryos in contravention of EU patenting law.
A row between the EPO and the Parliament emerged in Brussels last week over the liberal approach taken by the Munich-based patenting authority. During a hearing on human genetics by a parliamentary committee, MEPs severely censured the EPO for handing out patents in circumstances outside the 1998 European Directive governing genetic patenting.
Ms Nuala Ahern, the Irish Green Party MEP, said the EPO's practices sounded illegal, and called on the Irish Government to bring the EPO to book.
The committee accused the patent authority of acting outside the legislation, effectively changing European law in this area without getting the approval of member-states. Mr Daniel Alexander, an intellectual property barrister, told the committee this was equivalent to the EU Commission making changes to the treaties of the EU without consulting member-governments.
The EPO admitted it didn't ask for confirmation from companies applying for gene patents that genetic material used in developing their invention had been acquired legally, with the donor's consent. Ms Ahern said the EPO granted patents in the past for applications involving human embryos in breach of its own guidelines.