The Jewish Daily Forward, which reports on all thing Jewish has as article about gene patents in general and the Myriad case as well. The Forward's Jewish angle is that Jewish ethics clash with gene patenting. Anne Cohen, the author of the article, interviewed Rabbi David Teutsch, director of the Levin-Lieber Program in Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. The rabbi said, “How do we provide enough profits to researchers while guaranteeing open access to the results of that research?” Cohen's interview revealed the rabbi's analysis: "The two goals should be weighed against each other. But ultimately, Teutsch asserted, access to healing should trump private profit". As the rabbi said: “If a very narrow interpretation of patented property rights is applied here, we’re not going to fulfill the value of maximizing healing. The desire to maximize profits should not be allowed to trump maximizing healing." The article went on to quote Arthur Caplan, perennial academic ethicist, who has apparently moved from U Penn to NYU.
Also quoted were William A. Haseltine, who is a former CEO of Human Genome Sciences, and Rebecca Eisenberg, Professor of Law at the University of Michigan, leaving us to wonder, is Hazeltine a Jewish name?
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