We ended on a short discussion of DNA and biological information as the property of the individuals last Friday. I was thinking a lot about where we left off this discussion and I was struggling a little bit with it. So some of the ideas brought up in Tallbear were these ideas of ownership of Native American DNA and the ability to profit off people's information in genetic ancestry testing. I think I'm struggling with this idea because, in some of my other classes, we had also wrestled with the ethics of patenting in modern America, and how it causes so many issues with pricing of drugs and inaccessibility of certain health care technologies to those who need it because of patents and this idea of ownership. For example, this has come up last year with the Epipen being exorbitantly overpriced, such that people who needed them to survive but were not able to afford them just had to pray they wouldn't get severe asthma attacks. The company that produces them should have the right to price their products at whatever cost they'd like, but in context of the need of the people, it's not black and white when determining what should and should not be patented. In these cases, I argued that for the greater good of society, these things should be available without a hefty price tag for those who need it to survive.
So of course people should be informed as to where and how the information they give and produce will be utilized, but it also brings up the question as to where will the money come from to compensate all these people? Will it take away from those who end up needing the products, who may not be able to afford them, rather than from the distributors?
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