A PATENT ON SUFFERING?

The American Anti-Vivisection Society and a patent watchdog group are fighting to revoke a University of Texas patent involving beagles, calling the patenting of animals for medical experiments "neither legally valid nor morally acceptable." They say the University is trying to patent beagles that have been modified to die from lung infections. The University claims the patent only covers a process, but Andrew Kimbrell, director of the International Center for Technology Assessment, said the patent's repeated use of the words "beagle" and "canine" indicate that it covers the use of the animals, not the method.