Abstract

This paper analyzes court rulings on tissue samples as property and critiques objections that have been raised to the recognition of DNA samples as personal property. The cases are: Moore v. Regents of the University of California (1988, 1990), Greenberg v. Miami Children’s Research Institute (2003), and Washington University v.Catalona (2007). The paper argues that it is possible for the law to support both individual privacy and property rights in DNA, recognizing nevertheless that some unresolved questions remain, including what exercising those rights means on a practical level. Finally, it offers suggestions for changes in law based on those considerations