“This unfortunate outcome represents an incalculable loss to the research community and, through their work, to the individuals and families who are waiting for breakthrough treatments for diseases.”

The main problem is that these bloodspots represent capital. That is, just like money, lab equipment, and reagents, these bloodspots are the raw material for innovation. Yet, with the state of Texas acting as an intermediary, the “owners” of these bloodspots have their rights of ownership and control superseded by the DHSH. This gives the DHSH the ability to “invest” the bloodspots in any research that it finds compelling. Of course, we can now see that forensics applications are just as important as finding breakthrough treatments for diseases. We can also see that if any breakthrough treatment is generated from these bloodspots, that the research team and/or University working on the problem will have a monopoly on said treatment courtesy of the DHSH. Thus, the original “owners” of the bloodspots will enjoy paying monopoly prices for treatments that they actually made possible.

Personally, I believe that the DHSH should stick to its public health goals and that biorepositories should only be constructed out of biological samples obtained from consenting adults.