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Companies like Monsanto like to patent genes:

http://nationalpropertyowners.org/nonais.html
How do you say No NAIS in Japanese?

Excerpt:

>>>Genes and the products of genetic engineering can be patented and owned. In 1980, two federal landmark decisions influenced the business side of biotechnology. A Supreme Court ruling allowed patents to be granted for genetically engineered organisms, processes of transforming cells and expressing proteins, and genes themselves. More recently, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a Patent Office decision and ruled that DNA sequences that code for particular proteins are patentable.<<<

So, will this genetically modified bunny people be OWNED?

An entire breed of slaves?

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23369688-details/Scientists+to+create+’frankenbunny’+in+big+research+leap/article.do
Scientists to create ‘frankenbunny’ in big research leap

Scientists are planning to create a “frankenrabbit” by fusing together human cells with a rabbit egg.

It is hoped the “chimeric” embryos, which would be 99.9 per cent human and 0.1 per cent rabbit, could lead to breakthroughs in stem cell research which could one day cure diseases such as Alzheimer’s or spinal cord injury.

The embryos will allow scientists to perfect stem cell creation techniques without using human eggs.

“If we learn how to do this with animal eggs, we should be able to have more success with human eggs, and I’d much rather know that if we were going to ask women to donate eggs that we were very likely to get stem cells as a result,” said Chris Shaw, at the Institute of Psychiatry.

“We know this is a huge challenge after Dr Hwang in South Korea failed to get stem cells despite having 2,000 human eggs.”

Teams in London, Edinburgh and Newcastle are to submit application to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority this month, requesting licences to create embryos that will be 99.9 per cent human and 0.1 per cent rabbit or cow.

The HFEA is encouraging the applications after legal advice. The embryos will be allowed to grow for only 14 days, at which point they will be cells smaller than a pinhead.

From bunny people to BovHumans?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6121280.stm

UK scientists have applied for permission to create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs.

Researchers from Newcastle University and Kings College, London, have asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a three-year licence.

The hybrid human-bovine embryos would be used for stem cell research and would not be allowed to develop for more than a few days.

But critics say it is unethical and potentially dangerous.

Stem cell research is one of the most promising areas of medical science.

They are the body’s master cells and five-day-old embryos are packed with them - each with the potential to turn into any tissue in the body.

It is this ability which scientists want to harness to treat diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease, strokes and Alzheimer’s Disease.

To do that, they need to have access to thousands of embryos for research.

Short supply

The problem is that human eggs for research are in short supply and to obtain them women have to undergo surgery.

That is why scientists want to use cows’ eggs as a substitute.

They would insert human DNA into a cow’s egg which has had its genetic material removed and then create an embryo by the same technique that produced Dolly the Sheep.

The resulting embryo would be 99.9% human, the only bovine element would be DNA outside the nucleus of the cell.

It would though, technically be a chimera, part-human, part-animal.

(snip)