More witness

Some weeks ago, a Commentary titled "Time to Bear Witness" called for the biotech industry to build a "full head" of steam into the congressional engine for FDA reform. We called for a "blizzard of documentation" about the failings of the regulatory environment, and said lawmakers "should get an earful" about the price the public pays for the agency's devotion to risk avoidance (see BioCentury, April 10).

Well, little did we realize that the real professionals in bearing witness were lining up to give lawmakers and their congregations an earful of opposition to patenting of human and animal genes. As a few of the clergy aligned with the Joint Appeal Against Human and Animal Patenting made clear last week, the oratory can get pretty colorful...