WHO pool enforcement prevents overlapping that causes policy failure

The WTO’s [TRIPs} Convention on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property establishes standards for protection of [IP] intellectual property applicable to biotechnology; several other WTO agreements also apply to biotechnology related trade disputes. The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization has announced the ‘‘possible preparation’’ of an ‘‘international instrument on genetic data’’ and a ‘‘universal instrument on bioethics’’ as a follow-up to its Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights (32); it is unclear whether these proposed instruments would be designed as binding international law. Most recently, in December 2001, the United Nations General Assembly established an Ad Hoc Working Group of the Sixth Committee to consider an international treaty to ban reproductive cloning of human beings (20)…International law in biotechnology is thus emerging in a fragmented and amorphous manner in which intergovernmental organizations with overlapping jurisdictions are addressing sector-specific aspects of the genetics revolution in a piecemeal and incomplete manner. The splintered legal process exacerbates uncertainties about the legal regime that governs biotechnology. This is partly because standards adopted under the auspices of different international organizations are being developed in increasingly contradictory ways, including conflicting legal standards related to intellectual property (33, 34). The experience of international lawmaking in biotechnology strongly suggests that the current decentralized organizational framework is ill-equipped to deal with international legal aspects of the massive public health implications of new genetic technologies and other realms of global public health. Taking the agenda forward: WHO and international health law An international health law mandate for WHO: coordination and collective management A larger role for WHO, involving coordination of the international health law enterprise, is essential for rational development and effective implementation of international health law policy.