In this timely study Jean Buttigieg demonstrates the necessity to make it a legal principle of
international law that the human genome is a common heritage of mankind. In 1997 the UNESCO
General Conference declared the human genome a common heritage of humankind. This declaration
was followed by the Joint Statement of March 14 2000 by US President Bill Clinton and British
Prime Minister Tony Blair in which they stated that the fundamental data on the human genome
including the human DNA sequence and its variations should be made freely available to
scientists everywhere. This announcement to allow unencumbered access to this fundamental data
on the human genome for the benefit of all humanity appeared to endorse the UNESCO
Declaration of 1997 on the human genome. But as it turns out these statements were only
political slogans since there is a complete lack of any genuine attempts to make the human
genome a legal principle of international law so far. This study's foremost goal is to
re-introduce the philosophical and political implications of the concept of common heritage of
mankind into public discourse as intended by Arvid Pardo when he addressed the UN General
Assembly on November 1 1967 and apply them to the human genome. As Buttigieg demonstrates
the biggest challenge here comes from the patent system in its present form which encourages
the commercialization of the human genome by explicitly denying scientists unencumbered access
to the fundamental raw data. By putting individual rights before community rights the patent
system effectively hinders discoveries that prompt new and better medical treatments. Buttigieg
also discusses issues of biotechnology. While the biotechnology debate is very often centred on
which new applications of biotechnology should or should not be permitted it so far lacks a
critical philosophical analysis of biotechnology itself. The true essence of the human genome
Buttigieg argues is to be found in metaphysics and not biology. This study fills a gap in the
literature on the human genome and the common heritage of mankind by addressing the
metaphysical nature of the human genome and discussing the philosophical concerns surrounding
the field of biotechnology.
