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Even those who treat other people's genomes as intellectual property concede that sample donors deserve some share of their genes' financial value. But those rights are already threatened in several ways – a situation that requires urgent attention.
The increasing interest of pharmaceutical companies in the results of genetic studies of human population groups is already raising intense debate over the 'ownership' of genetic information. Few expect to find easy solutions.
The evolution of amphibians from fish shows that major evolutionary transitions can occur through a step-by-step addition of novel characters over several million years.