A U.N. organization is trying to navigate its way through the minefield of improving protection for the owners of genetic resources and traditional knowledge - a process expected to take years. For hundreds of years, scientists have tapped jungles, rainforests, deserts and farms in Latin America, Africa and Asia, to develop new agricultural products and modern medicines. But it has increased hugely over the past 20 years thanks to dramatic advances in genetic engineering that allow scientists to more easily manipulate active compounds in plants, soils and fungi.
Some countries already have strict rules, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
Traditional Chinese medicine has been covered by a special patent law since 1993 and at the end of 1998, Chinese medicines were the subject of 9,900 patent applications, according to WIPO documents. He said the organization would also consider how to define those components of traditional knowledge in need of protection. It really signifies a desire to view the knowledge economy in a comprehensive and inclusive manner and not just as the Western knowledge economy but a knowledge economy which will include traditional knowledge,'' he said. He said it was unclear whether there would be binding rules or just guidelines for governments, companies and indigenous people. International opinion is divided on the subject.