Laws and Regulations Associated with Ownership of Human Biological Material in South Africa

Ownership with regard to human biological material (HBM) is addressed to some extent within South African law; specifically in chapter eight of the National Health Act (NHA) and its associated regulations. However; members of the legal fraternity struggle to conceptualise ownership of such materials without objectifying a person or people and risking reducing such individuals to a state of property. This then infers a reduction in human dignity by rendering one-self or parts of that same self as a commodity. The complexity of the issue raises much debate both legally as well as ethically