Legal protection of biotechnology inventions.

The article discusses the approval of resolution on the patenting of biotechnological inventions in the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. The Parliament supported biotechnology but insisted on an appropriate framework which guarantees the respect of ethical, environmental and health aspects. Therapeutic cloning and the limit of the patent protection were matters of contention among different political groups. There was an argument that germ cells are part of the human body and therefore are not patentable.