Biopiracy pits indigenous communities against each other

WHAT IS BIOPROSPECTING and How Does it Relate to Indigenous Peoples? Biodiversity prospecting is the exploration, extraction and screening of biological diversity and indigenous knowledge for commercially valuable genetic and biochemical resources. While it is true that biodiversity prospecting does not always involve the use of indigenous knowledge, it is clear that valuable chemical compounds derived from plants, animals and microorganisms are more easily identified and of greatest commercial value when collected with indigenous knowledge and/or found in territories traditionally inhabited by indigenous peoples. The following are just a few examples(2): Between 1956 and 1976 the U.S. National Cancer Institute screened over 35,000 plants and animals for anti-cancer compounds. The program was terminated in 1981 because of its failure to identify a greater number of new anti-cancer agents. A retrospective study conducted on the project concluded that the success rate in finding valuable species could have been doubled if medicinal folk knowledge had been the only information used to target species.(3) Scientists have found that 86 percent of the plants used by Samoan healers displayed significant biological activity when tested in the laboratory.(4) Crude extracts of plants used by one healer in Belize, gave rise to four times as many positive results in lab tests for anti-HIV activity than did specimens collected randomly.(5) It is generally acknowledged that about one in 10,000 chemicals derived from mass screening of plants, animals and microbes eventually results in a potentially profitable drug. By contrast, Shaman Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the U.S.-based company that collects plants by talking to indigenous healers and watching them work, claims a success rate of 50%. Shaman's formula for success: Where three different communities are found to use the same plant kind for medicinal purposes, Shaman targets the plant for further study. About half the plants collected by Shaman's researchers come up positive in screening tests, making the "filter" of indigenous knowledge 5,000 times more effective than random collection. Today, there is greatly renewed interest in natural product screening--especially for medicinal compounds. In 1980, none of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry research budget was spent on research into higher plants. Today, it is estimated that over 200 companies and research organizations worldwide are screening plant and animal compounds for medicinal properties. The renaissance of natural product screening and recognition of the value of indigenous knowledge is fueled, in part, by the realization that species, their genetic material, and the ecosystems of which they are a part are rapidly disappearing from the face of the earth. In the mid-1980s, pharmaceutical industry analysts warned that each medicinal plant lost in the tropical rainforests could lose drug firms possible sales of more than $200 million.(6) With advances in molecular biology and the availability of more sophisticated diagnostic tools for screening, it is increasingly cost effective for pharmaceutical corporations and others to conduct natural product research. In high-technology laboratories, extracts from biological specimens undergo rapid and precise screening procedures that allow for the isolation of chemicals displaying a specifically targeted activity. As a result, the market for buying and selling exotic biological specimens is expanding rapidly. It is conservatively estimated that the market for natural product research specimens within the pharmaceutical industry alone is (US) $30-60 million per annum.(7) Biodiversity prospecting is not new, of course. For decades, plant collectors from industrialized countries have ventured southward in search of valuable genetic material for agricultural plant breeding. But no money changed hands in the process, nor was recognition given to the indigenous farming communities who selected, maintained and improved traditional crop varieties. As recently as 1991, Monsanto Inc. (a U.S.-based agrochemical corporation) was recruiting company employees "who are traveling somewhere exotic and wouldn't mind digging up a few soil samples for the sake of science" to volunteer to pick-up specimens 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," according to Monsanto spokesperson, Margann Miller-Wideman.(8) You never know what you're going to find or where you're going to find it... Nothing's off limits. -- Monsanto THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: A Boost for Bilateralism and Biopiracy The Convention on Biological Diversity entered into force in December, 1993. The Convention offers a multilateral facade for addressing conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, but offers no multilateral mechanisms for making it happen. In reality, the Convention promotes bilateral deals (commercial contracts and other agreements for access to biodiversity) while failing to provide a strong plan of action based on broad, multi-country collaboration (especially South-South) for access to--and development of--biological diversity. On the positive side, the Convention recognizes that states have sovereign rights over their natural resources, and that terms and conditions for access to these materials are within the domain of national legislation. The Convention also recognizes the "knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities" and specifically "encourage[s] the equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of such knowledge, innovations and practices" (Article 8(j) ). The Convention sanctions bilateral agreements by making repeated reference to "mutually agreed terms" for access to genetic materials (Article 15.4), subject to "prior informed consent" of the State (Article 15.5). 3). The Convention's language on intellectual property rights (Article 16.2 and 16.5) is confusing, and subject to varying interpretations. One representative of the pharmaceutical/agro-chemical industry has commented that the Convention does not compromise intellectual property systems, and may even go further than GATT, in legitimizing industrial intellectual property systems.(9) As it stands, the Biodiversity Convention offers passive endorsement of bilateral contractual agreements that will pit indigenous communities and countries against one another. While multinational corporations are free to patent bio-materials, there are no effective guidelines and conditions defined for recognizing and rewarding the contributions of indigenous peoples and other informal innovators who are responsible for nurturing, using and developing biodiversity worldwide. BILATERAL CONTRACTS FOR BIODIVERSITY PROSPECTING--Bioprospecting Agreements The first major bilateral contract for bioprospecting was made public in September, 1991 (prior to the Convention on Biological Diversity) when Merck & Co. (a U.S.-based pharmaceutical corporation) announced a 2-year, $1.135 million deal with the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) of Costa Rica, a private, non-governmental research institute. INBio agreed to provide Merck's drug-screening programs with chemical extracts from wild plants, insects and microorganisms. In return, Merck agreed to give INBio a two-year research budget of $1.135 million, an undisclosed share of royalties on any resulting commercial products, and technical assistance and training to establish in-country capacity for drug research. INBio also agreed to contribute 10% of its up-front payment from Merck and 50% of any royalties it may eventually receive to Costa Rica's National Park Fund. Although the Merck/INBio agreement was hailed by some as a "model" agreement for bioprospecting, it ignores the rights and roles of indigenous peoples. According to Alejandro Argumedo of the Indigenous Peoples' Biodiversity Network, there is at least one indigenous reserve within the INBio collecting area. Among the para-taxonomists who have been hired by INBio to collect biological specimens are indigenous peoples.(10) Costa Rica's rainforests are estimated to hold 5-7% of the world's remaining biodiversity. If the Merck/INBio deal were widely replicated, the South's biodiversity could all be auctioned off for the paltry sum of about $10 million per annum. Merck's sales in 1991 were $8.6 billion, while Costa Rica's GNP that year was $5.2 billion. Merck's research budget in 1991 was roughly $1 billion. Indeed, Merck has three drugs with sales in excess of $1 billion each. Given that pharmaceutical companies invest an average of $231 million on research for each new drug, the discovery charge for one single new drug arising from the deal is barely loose change. For Merck, the Costa Rica contract bought exceedingly cheap labour and access to unidentified biological treasures (and superb public relations).. It is often difficult for indigenous peoples' organizations to know precisely with whom they are negotiating, or to whom they are ultimately providing information and genetic materials.”