BIOPIRACY

LYNNE BRASILEÑO
ANDREA CARRION
 BACKGROUND

Charles Darwin-
The Voyage of
the
Beagle(December
1831-October
1836), collected
specimen from
the Galapagos
island.
BACKGROUND

Richard Evans
Schultes (1915-
2001), father of
ethnobotany,
collected
specimens of
medicinal plants
from Mexico and
the Amazon.
 What is BIOPIRACY?
− BIOPIRATES are those individuals
and companies accused of one or
both of the following acts: (i)
the theft, misappropriation of,
or unfair free-riding on, genetic
resources and/or traditional
knowledge through the patent
system; and (ii) the unauthorised
and uncompensated collection for
commercial ends of genetic
resources and/or traditional
knowledge (TK).
 BIOPIRACY
− the ways that
corporations from the
developed world claim
ownership of, free ride
on, or otherwise take
unfair advantage of, the
genetic resources and
traditional knowledge and
technologies of developing
countries.
 THREATS OF BIOPIRACY

BIODIVERSITY- source of food,

pharmaceutical,cosmetics,
biotechnology,veterinary science,
seeds and agrochemicals
BIODIVERSED REGIONS: Mexico, Brazil,
India, Indonesia, Australia and The
Democratic Republic of Congo. Under
threats of Biopiracy.
 THREATS OF BIOPIRACY

Privatization of life refers to the

ownership of life forms and
traditional knowledge. Privatization
also leads to monopolistic control of
natural resources, such as water,
upon which our survival depends.
Patents on life forms threaten
community access to three of the most
critical elements of human survival:
food, water and health care.
 CASES

Neem Oil
as pesticide
and its
anti-fungal
effects
 CASES

Philippine sea
snail (Conus
magus)isolating
from the snail a
toxin called SNX-
111 which is a
pain killer that
is reported by
scientists to be
1,000 times more
powerful than
morphine.
 CASES

Bitter gourd
(Momordica
charantia)
Ampalaya, mixed with
another Philippine
vegetable "talong"
or eggplant (Solanum
melongena) are
traditional food ,
an effective cure
against diabetes.
 CASES

Erythromycin an
antibiotic extract
from a soil in the
province of
Iloilo. It was
isolated by a
Philippine
scientist Abelardo
Aguilar who was
then working with
the Eli Lilly Co.
 CASES

Human DNA
MOVEMENTS AGAINST BIOPIRACY

WTO- World Trade

Organization
TRIPs- Trade Related
Intellectual Property
Rights
www.naturalnews.com
SOURCES:
Khor, Martin, A worldwide fight against biopiracy and patents on life
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/pat-ch.htm
GLOBAL EXCHANGE Programs in the Americas
http://www.globalexchange.org.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/022754.html
PHILIPPINES GOVERNMENT CLAMPS DOWN ON BIOPIRATES by Chakravarthi Raghavan
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/clamps.htm
Companies rush to patent wildlife of the Philippines
Copyright © 2000 The Earth Times
January 15, 2001
By MICHAEL A. BENGWAYAN
http://forests.org/archive/asia/corushto.htm
Michael A. Gollin, J.D., Biopiracy: The Legal Perspective
© 1999, Michael A. Gollin, reprinted with permission. From “Legal consequences of biopiracy” published in Nature
Biotechnology, Vol. 17, Sept. 1999 and previously presented to the American Society of Pharmacognosy in 1998. ©
February 2001, American Institute of Biological Sciences, article updated by the author for this web site.
http://www.actionbioscience.org/biodiversity/gollin.html