3. Biopiracy

Genetic diversity is at its richest in tropical countries, which are estimated to contain over 95% of the world’s genetic resources.(1) In what the industry calls ‘bioprospecting’—and others call ‘biopiracy’—scouts are sent to these areas to seek out valuable organisms or plants, often drawing upon the wisdom of indigenous peoples. They then take samples back to laboratories where they isolate active ingredients or genetic sequences and patent them as their own inventions.

Traditional knowledge systems, and the people who have cultivated biodiversity over thousands of years, count for less in patent law than routine laboratory procedures. Communities could now end up having to pay multinational corporations for the right to use something that was previously part of their legacy.
 

• The Neem tree has been used in India for thousands of years, and is valued for its antibacterial and insecticidal properties. Since 1985, US and Japanese corporations have taken out over a dozen patents on these long-appreciated properties of the plant. (2)

 
• The j’oublie berry from the Gabon in West Africa contains a sweet compound which has been patented by the University of Wisconsin in the hopes that it will make money in the lucrative sweetener market. Despite the fact that the sweet taste of the berries is well known in West Africa, the university claims that the sweet compound (brazzein) is its own invention and admit to no connection with the Gabon.(3)

 
• According to an article in Business Week, when employees of Novo Nordisk go on holiday, they take along soil-collection kits to gather exotic microorganisms. The father of one scientist who worked for the company collected a soil sample from Indonesia which yielded an enzyme that is now widely used by soft-drink suppliers to change starch into sugar.(4) A spokesperson for Monsanto said that the company was recruiting employees "who are traveling somewhere exotic and wouldn’t mind digging up a few soil samples for the sake of science" for Monsanto’s agricultural screening programs. "You never know what you’re going to find or where you’re going to find it . . . Nothing’s off limits." (5)

References:

1. Juma C. (1989) The Gene Hunters: Biotechnology and the Scramble for Seeds. Zed Books, London
2. Shiva V. (1998) Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge. Green Books, pp.73-75
Hirsh M. (26 September 1995) Fight For the Miracle Tree, Bulletin, pp.70-71
Vijayalakshmi K. et al (1995), Neem: A User’s Manual. Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems and Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, New Delhi
3. GRAIN (1998) Patenting, Piracy and Perverted Promises. Briefing published by Genetic Resources Action International (GRAIN), Barcelona
4. Myco Pharmaceuticals (9 March 1994) Novel Pharmaceuticals from Genetically Engineered Fungi. Corporate Profile, p.3
5. Heine K. (April 1991) Treasure in the Jungle. Monsanto Magazine, No.1, p.22
 
 

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