Biopirates Walk the Plank
Is the crackdown on biopiracy protecting the rights of indigenous people or putting the freeze on beneficial science?
By Kelly Hearn, AlterNet. Posted June 15, 2006.
Many laud the U.N.'s attention to biopiracy, particularly a draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that calls for indigenous communities to own their resources such as seeds and traditional know-how. But the problem, say sympathizers like Strand and open-source technology guru Richard Stallman, is that claims to "ownership" -- while seemingly a good fix -- actually places the value on these resources as commodities. What's more, the patent game is hard for little guys to play.
"Although some indigenous peoples may promote the idea of patenting their own resources, it's usually rejected as a strategy because it's a high-stakes game, and they can't possibly compete with the deep pockets of multinational companies," says Shand.
And securing a patent calls for lawyers and budgets for litigation and applications -- something farmers and indigenous peoples don't have. Another big problem is dialing back bad patents once they've been issued. Activists point to the Enola bean, involving a U.S. patent over a traditional Mexican bean that remains in force six years, nearly a third of its 20-year lifecycle, after a legal challenge began.
Shand says the contractual benefits sharing approach requires indigenous groups to become involved in "commodifying and selling the commons and collective heritage," perhaps pitting them against the same people or inhabitants of the same region. Solveig Singleton, a lawyer with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, questions benefit sharing schemes on different grounds. She says it's understandable for indigenous groups to take a defensive posture against bad patents. But in a telephone interview she questioned "vague claims" to rights that would let them have a share of product sales that required major work and investment to take to market.
Writing in her blog, she asks: "Would these same discoverers share the risk and blame if the product were somewhere downstream found to cause birth defects or other harm? Would they also desire to share in the profits from sales of coffee, tea, and chocolate, claiming to have discovered their property of tastiness? What about the properties of coca leaves and opium poppies? Would they like to share in the profits from the development of those products into painkillers? Would they also like to share in the profits from the sales of heroin and cocaine? What about crack? Will they share in ameliorating the harms?"
While activists may disagree on the usefulness of asking for benefit-sharing schemes, they widely agree that patents like the Enola bean should be stopped before they start.
Brazil and India represent a group including Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Thailand and other developing nations. They are calling for fixes within the present patent system, advocating that the Convention on Biodiversity (which calls for equitable benefits sharing) be fused with the WTO's patent treaty, known as TRIPS. They want governments to force patent applicants to say where they got the genetic material and traditional knowledge before issuing a ruling. They also want prior proof that local groups who helped patent applicants were properly informed and given equitable stake in the project.
Not surprisingly, the Bush administration is a no-go. They've rejected calls to strength protections for indigenous knowledge at the expense of big business, groups like Public Citizen point out. Washington wants to let domestic laws deal with biopiracy while the European Union is somewhere in the middle, saying that patent offices are not fit to determine what's fair.
"Although some indigenous peoples may promote the idea of patenting their own resources, it's usually rejected as a strategy because it's a high-stakes game, and they can't possibly compete with the deep pockets of multinational companies," says Shand.
And securing a patent calls for lawyers and budgets for litigation and applications -- something farmers and indigenous peoples don't have. Another big problem is dialing back bad patents once they've been issued. Activists point to the Enola bean, involving a U.S. patent over a traditional Mexican bean that remains in force six years, nearly a third of its 20-year lifecycle, after a legal challenge began.
Shand says the contractual benefits sharing approach requires indigenous groups to become involved in "commodifying and selling the commons and collective heritage," perhaps pitting them against the same people or inhabitants of the same region. Solveig Singleton, a lawyer with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, questions benefit sharing schemes on different grounds. She says it's understandable for indigenous groups to take a defensive posture against bad patents. But in a telephone interview she questioned "vague claims" to rights that would let them have a share of product sales that required major work and investment to take to market.
Writing in her blog, she asks: "Would these same discoverers share the risk and blame if the product were somewhere downstream found to cause birth defects or other harm? Would they also desire to share in the profits from sales of coffee, tea, and chocolate, claiming to have discovered their property of tastiness? What about the properties of coca leaves and opium poppies? Would they like to share in the profits from the development of those products into painkillers? Would they also like to share in the profits from the sales of heroin and cocaine? What about crack? Will they share in ameliorating the harms?"
While activists may disagree on the usefulness of asking for benefit-sharing schemes, they widely agree that patents like the Enola bean should be stopped before they start.
Brazil and India represent a group including Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Thailand and other developing nations. They are calling for fixes within the present patent system, advocating that the Convention on Biodiversity (which calls for equitable benefits sharing) be fused with the WTO's patent treaty, known as TRIPS. They want governments to force patent applicants to say where they got the genetic material and traditional knowledge before issuing a ruling. They also want prior proof that local groups who helped patent applicants were properly informed and given equitable stake in the project.
Not surprisingly, the Bush administration is a no-go. They've rejected calls to strength protections for indigenous knowledge at the expense of big business, groups like Public Citizen point out. Washington wants to let domestic laws deal with biopiracy while the European Union is somewhere in the middle, saying that patent offices are not fit to determine what's fair.
Etiquetas: Biopiracy
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