When the European Patent Office was examining an application for a patent on fragments of a gene isolated from humans - in this case it was the gene that generates relaxin (an important hormone in the process of giving birth) opponents argued that such patenting of human genes amounted to a modern form of slavery, and that patenting genes was the same as patenting life.

The European Patent Office found that the sampling had been conducted in accordance with recognised medico-ethical procedures. It stated that the allegation of slavery was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the effect of a patent. A patent on DNA, which contained the code for human H2-relaxin or any other human gene, did not give its holder any special right over the Individual human.

There was no need for humans to be the source for the protein sought once the invention had been made, and at no stage any obligation on humans to be a source. The only point at which a woman was involved was at the beginning of the implementation of the invention, namely as a voluntary source for the relaxin mRNA.

The EPO also rejected the claim that patenting genes was the same as patenting life: DNA, the structure of a gene, is not life, but a chemical substance that carries genetic information and can be used as an intermediate in the production of proteins that may be medically useful. The patenting of a single human gene has nothing to do with the patenting of human life.
Furthermore, the EPO found that there is no difference in ethical terms between patenting genes and other human substances such as proteins.