The problem, Dan, is with the handling of Martian meteorites once they are identified as such.

I have no problem with the private collection and ownership of meteorites, with this one exception. Much as I'd like to own a piece of Mars (okay, a speck of Mars) I can't support the private ownership of Mars meteorites - the data is simply too valuable, and with current policies it is simply being lost: we don't know if the water is Mars water, or Earth water, or some combination -

I expect that all Mars meteorites were sterilized by radiation during their flight through space - but this does not mean that DNA fragments may still remain within them. (I think it likely that they do.) These rocks have lain in the desert or the antartic for years, so the chances of any of this DNA being incorporated by any Earth organisms (think in terms of prions) has been extremely remote - but this changes once these rocks are found.

(This premise could easily be expanded into a great low budget science fiction movie - have the Martian DNA interfere with cellular reproduction, leading to something like cancer, but worse, where say ears or other body parts quickly begin growing all over-)

I think that upon identification, Martian meteorites should be moved to the LPI containment facilities. I think that other researchers should be enabled to do their studies and research on these rocks from Mars there, in Houston.

I know these ideas won't be popular here, but that's how I see it.

EP