Here's Dr. Michael New over at NRO with a quick report of Congress' passing a human embryo patent ban.
Last month, pro-lifers received good news when the United States placed a permanent ban on patents on human embryos. President Obama signed the prohibition into law in September as part of a patent-reform measure titled the “America Invents Act.” Embryo-patent bans had been included in appropriations bills since 2003. However, they had to be renewed every fiscal year. The signing of this bill achieves the important goal of codifying this ban into permanent law.
The commodification of human life has always been an important philosophical concern for pro-lifers. However, this ban serves an important practical purpose as well. There was always the concern that biotechnology companies that engage in embryonic-stem-cell research might attempt to patent embryonic-stem-cell lines. By preventing the patents of human embryos, Congress was able to take some of the profit motive out of both embryonic-stem-cell research and human cloning...
