Biopiracy – the next battlefront between rich v. poor nations?
16 February 2010
98 CommentsBiopiracy is describes a situations where corporations from the developed world claim ownership of, or otherwise take unfair advantage of, the genetic resources and traditional knowledge and technologies of developing countries. Many developing countries have drawn political and ethical analogies between perceived biopiracy and intellectual piracy, claiming that whilst the developing world is often guilty of disrespecting copyright, patents and other intellectual property, the developed world is often guilty of disrespecting the ownership of indigenous biological resources.
Last week A South African community challenged German homeopathic giant Schwabe Pharmaceuticals in court in Munich over a traditional medicine the company is seeking to patent. The small community won in the David vs. Goliath battle. Schwabe wanted to patent a method for producing extracts from the roots of Pelargonium sidoides and Pelargonium reniforme to make cough and cold syrups. The community, in Alice in the Eastern Cape, said the extraction method has been used for generations by traditional healers and Schwabe has no right to patent it.The company has also hit problems in India over alleged bioprospecting.
This attracted my attention to the issue. Knowledge is generally perceived as a “free public good” in our cultures, where its passed down usually orally from generation to generation. How do we protect that tradition from the western hawkish ideals of privatizing everything – including knowledge?
Here is a snapshot of some interesting sources on the biopiracy issue
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20 July 2011 at 8:23 am