In June 2000, the publicly funded Human Genome Project (HGP) and the private company Celera Genomics Inc. announced that they had completed the sequencing of the human genome. This unprecedented achievement is expected to enable doctors to diagnose, treat and even prevent numerous genetic diseases. While these two entities worked on sequencing the human genome, there was also a separate, less publicized race to patent as many human genes as possible. The patent issue attracted some attention when President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair jointly called for the release of raw genetic data into the public domain (CQ 405). In this article I will argue that aggressive competition among biotechnology companies to patent genes is impeding the development of the biomedical sector. The main problem with patenting genes is that companies file patents for DNA strands they discover without fully knowing their functions (Kluger 51). The current attitude in the biotechnology industry seems to be to first gain exclusive access to as much of the human genome as possible and then understand the functions of the genes. Despite the questionable attitude in the biotechnology industry, current patent laws allow companies to continue with their practices. Patent laws are unable to address the new complications that arise from patenting genes. As I will argue in this article, there is an urgent need to change these laws to allow HGP and its consequences to benefit everyone rather than line the pockets of a few companies. Patents have always represented a mutually beneficial relationship between inventor and public. The inventor gets 17 years of basic monopoly on his invention so that ... middle of the paper ... without hindering progress in biomedical technology. Works Cited Bethell, Tom, Boastful Genome Science, The American Spectator v.33 n. 7 (September 2000) Bobrow, Martin, Patents in a Genetic Age, Nature (15 February 2001) Doll, John, Talking Gene Patents, Scientific American (August 2000) Hildyard, Nicholas., No Patents on Life, Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy v 15 (Spring 2000) Kaiser, Jocelyn, Renewed Fight Over Gene Patent Policy, (April 11, 1997) Kluger, Jeffery, Who Owns Our Genes, Time. (January 11, 1999)Regalado, Antonio, The Great Gene Grab, Technology Review, Cambridge Mass. 1998 v 103 September/October 2000Shulman, Seth, Toward Sharing the Genome, Technology Review, v.103 (September/October 2000)A Double Edged Sword, Canada and the World Backgrounder v66 (October 2000) Human Genome Project (2000), Congressional Quarterly