The contentious EU directive which will allow companies to take out patents on genetic material has been adopted without a vote at a Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels.
Opponents including patient support groups, medical geneticists and environmental organisations have expressed anger but not surprise at the outcome. Greenpeace Europe described the directive as "fundamentally immoral."
Green Party MEP Ms Nuala Ahern denounced the outcome. It had "put industrial profit before patient rights," while the Irish Government had engaged in a sell-out which would undermine applied research in public health laboratories and increase health care costs, she predicted.
The Government, represented by the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Employment, Mr Tom Kitt, favoured what was considered "a delicate and balanced compromise" on the patenting of biotechnological inventions.
