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Biopiracy is the unauthorized extraction and use of widespread resources. Patents claim the resource itself, even derivatives or purified versions of it. Biopiracy has been committed since ancient times.
Biopiracy is the unauthorized extraction and use of widespread resources. Patents claim the resource itself, even derivatives or purified versions of it. Biopiracy has been committed since ancient times.
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Biopiracy is the unauthorized extraction and use of widespread resources. Patents claim the resource itself, even derivatives or purified versions of it. Biopiracy has been committed since ancient times.
Авторское право:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Доступные форматы
Скачайте в формате PPT, PDF, TXT или читайте онлайн в Scribd
Bio pirac y Prepared by: Lhady Kris Gonzales-Dizon
Chloe Matthea Ocampo
Introduction What is Biopiracy ? “bio” and “piracy”, ► From the root words biopiracy literally means “the patenting of life.” ► Genes of living organisms are basically the “raw materials” of new biotechnologies. ► Genetic materials from plants, animals, and other biological resources that have long been identified and developed, are being “owned” by companies and manufacturers through patents. ► Collection of genetic materials are usually taken without prior consent. How Did it All Start? The following illustrate how early acts of biopiracy have been committed:
► 3500 years ago, Egyptian rulers began bringing
plants home after military expeditions.
► In the last century, the British Empire instituted
regular plant collections. During the Voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwin simply took what interested him and brought it home. ► The Royal Botanical Gardens took rubber trees from Brazil, and planted them in Southeast Asia. They took cinchona seeds from Bolivia, in violation of national law, and planted them in India.
► Commodore Perry’s naval mission to Japan
collected a wide variety of plants to bring back to the United States. ► More recently, during the mid-twentieth century, Richard Schultes was able to befriend local shamans, who allowed him to collect thousands of voucher specimens of medicinal plants, hundreds of which had never previously been identified taxonomically. Kinds of Biopiracy
Traditional Knowledge Biopiracy
This kind of biopiracy covers the unauthorized use of common traditional knowledge, whether acquired by deception or on the basis of exploitative transactions. Various patents can claim traditional knowledge in the form it was acquired, or cover a refinement or an invention based on it. Genetic Resource Biopiracy This type of biopiracy is about the unauthorized extraction and use of widespread resources and of those found only in one location. It also covers authorized extraction of resources on the basis of exploitative transactions. Patents claim the resource itself, even derivatives or purified versions of it. Famous Cases Banaba and other medicinal plants (Philippines)
Japan has been patenting the country’s native
plants with medicinal properties, such as banaba, saluyot, sambong, lagundi, and takip kuhol. These plants have been the subject of patent claims there.
Pharmaceutical firms in Japan have started to
process these plants as medicines and claimed the knowledge as their own, when in fact, the healing properties of these herbs have been known in the Philippines for ages. Bitter gourd (Thailand)
Since Thailand has a big problem with AIDS,
their national scientists have been researching for all sorts of ways to help relieve the suffering the victims experience, and maybe even prevent against the infection of the HIV virus.
One team was focused on bitter gourd
(Momordica spp.), and they found certain compounds in it that work against HIV. Later on they found out that American scientists have copied their research and have already patented the active Map-30 protein from a native strain of bitter gourd. Enola Bean (Mexico)
This bean is a variety of Mexican yellow bean,
so called after the wife of the man who patented it for the variety's distinct shade of yellow in 1999. The patent-holder subsequently sued a large number of importers of Mexican yellow beans, causing economic damage to more than 22,000 farmers in northern Mexico who depended on sales of this bean. A law suit was filed on behalf of the farmers, and on April 14, 2005 the US-PTO ruled in favor of the farmers. An appeal was heard on 16 January 2008, and the patent was revoked in May 2008. Hoodia Cactus (South Africa)
The Hoodia Cactus originates from the Kalahari
Desert of South Africa. For generations it has been known to the traditionally-living San people as an appetite suppressant. In recent years, from 2004 onward, there has been sensationalist media coverage of the cactus. A wide variety of products have been produced since then.
Ilang-ilang (Philippines)
Yves St. Laurent, a fashion institute which has been
importing Ilang-ilang flowers from the Philippines, have stopped doing so and put up its own plantations in Africa instead. It has also secured a patent on its perfume formula based on this native Filipino species. Neem Tree (India)
In 1995 the U.S. Department of Agriculture and
a pharmaceutical research firm received a patent on a technique to extract an anti-fungal agent from the Neem tree (Azadirachta indica), which grows throughout India. Indian villagers have long understood the tree's medicinal value. Although the patent had been granted on an extraction technique, the Indian press described it as a patent on the Neem tree itself. Legal action by the Indian government followed, with the patent eventually being overturned in 2005. The pharmaceutical company involved in the Neem case argued that traditional Indian knowledge of the properties of the Neem tree had never been published in an academic journal. In response to this, India has been translating and publishing ancient manuscripts containing old remedies in electronic form to protect the country's heritage from being exploited by foreign companies. Plao-noi (Thailand)
The healing properties of Plao-noi (Croton
sublyratus) has been recorded in Thailand’s traditional palm leaf books for centuries. Yet Sankyo, the second largest pharmaceutical firm in Japan, was awarded a patent in Tokyo on this famous Thai herbal plant. In 1975, a team of researchers from Sankyo and the Department of Forestry collected samples of Plao-noi in a province in the south of Bangkok. Sankyo brought the samples to the lab, extracted its active ingredient which they called "Plaonotol"—named after the plant itself — and applied for a patent. The company cultivates and sells it in tablet form as "Kelnac", to treat ulcers. Rosy Periwinkle (Madagascar)
The Rosy Periwinkle case dates from the
1950s. The Rosy Periwinkle, while native to Madagascar, had been widely introduced into other tropical countries around the world. This meant that researchers could obtain local knowledge from one country and plant samples from another. The use of the plant as a cure for diabetes was the original stimulus for research, but cures for cancer were the most important results. Consequently, different countries are reported as having acquired different beliefs about the medical properties of the plant. Why is There a Need to Stop Biopiracy? ► Because of the patenting of biological materials, the locals of the affected countries would have less, if not none at all, access to those new developments which is possibly their original idea or discovery in the first place. Those who are granted the patents would have exclusive rights to their “inventions” and can therefore raise the prices if they choose to. ► By having the license to do whatever they please, patent owners can also hinder the local production. This can have a large impact on the livelihood of those concerned; the ones who are normally free to use as much of the crops or produce as they need are banned from manufacturing such goods. Therefore, if those goods are a source of income for them, they would lose much of the profits that they usually get. ► Patent owners can prohibit farmers from breeding such plant and animal varieties as well. In doing so, they have also taken away privileges that the indigenous people have rightfully earned themselves.
► As the patent owners benefit from the information
and materials that they do not actually “own”, the indigenous people who have long been developing and cultivating these resources get nothing. They do not have a choice unless knowledge of the materials has been proven traditional and the patent has been canceled. Actions Taken Against Biopiracy Bioprospecting Contracts To minimize the detrimental effects of biopiracy and to “legalize” such transactions, there is the so-called “bioprospection contract.” With this contract, economic income or royalties would be provided to the local communities concerned while the patent owners generate earnings. However, the fairness of these contracts has been a subject of debate. Unethical bioprospecting contracts and breaking the contract can be viewed as new forms of biopiracy, and would therefore bring about certain consequences.
► Patents can be cancelled once traditional
knowledge of such biological material is proven to be of traditional knowledge, or known in a local community for a long time. ► A collector or researcher must agree to provide an equitable share of benefits to the locals concerned before he or she could obtain biological samples. Failure to do so may deny him or her access to such samples. ► If there is no “prior informed consent” of taking biological materials from a local community, profits can be taken from the researcher and the affected locals can retrieve such in the court. The researcher would not be able to pass on illegitimate samples to collaborators and other third parties, as well. ► If the rules of bioprospecting have been violated, the patent owner would be labeled as a “biopirate.” By having this title, one can instantly lose his or her credibility and this can lead to a chain of unfortunate occurrences. It may also cause him or her to be sent to jail. Patent Law In the United States, patent law is used to protect “isolated and purified compounds” that were newly discovered and invented. A patent is the exclusive rights given to a person so that others will be prohibited in making, using, or selling the invention. One common misunderstanding is that pharmaceutical companies patent the plants they collect. While obtaining a patent on naturally occurring organisms is not possible, patents may be taken out on specific chemicals isolated or developed from plants. Convention on Biological Diversity The 1993 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) establishes sovereign national rights over biological resources and commits member countries to conserve them, develop them for sustainability, and share the benefits resulting from the use. Sustainable use of biological resources means finding new drugs, crops, and industrial products, while conserving the resources for future studies. Sovereign rights would be tempered by providing access to genetic resources, in exchange for a share of the benefits, including access to biotechnology. Conclusion