Biopiracy: Distrust Widens the Rich–Poor Divide
Authors: Inder M. Verma
Journal: Molecular Therapy (2002)

“Nature distributed medicine everywhere.” —Pliny the Elder, circa A.D. 77 In May 2000, the European patent office revoked a patent granted six years ago to the United States Department of Agriculture and the multinational agricultural company W. R. Grace for an antifungal product that uses seeds from the neem tree (Azadirachta indica). Grown widely in India, the neem tree is a tropical evergreen related to mahogany and has been revered for centuries in India and neighboring countries for its healing powers. Millions have cleaned their teeth with neem twigs (I still shudder at its bitter taste), smeared neem leaf juice on skin disorders, used its leaves to keep away troublesome bugs and relieve many different pains, fevers, and infections, and even used it as a contraceptive. It is no wonder the neem tree has been referred to as “the village pharmacy.” The decision of the patent office was met with great relief by campaigners fighting to stop big business from exploiting plants and genes at the expense of the developing world. In the age of combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening, it seems quaint or quixotic to seek new therapeutic compounds from the lofty Himalayas to the dense forests of Brazil to the dark ocean floors. One problem with many of the folk medicines is that the active ingredient is not well-defined. Modern science can help in analyzing the components of the extracts from medicinal plants or insects or marine species with sophisticated mass spectrophotometric technology and then performing systematic analyses of their efficacy. Many pharmaceutical companies and research scientists are actively involved in identifying, collecting, and analyzing indigenous plants and other life-forms. However, many countries are opposed to pharmaceutical companies or other big businesses owning the rights to living organisms, calling it “biopiracy.” There is a genuine concern that the livelihoods of poor farmers or fishermen in developing countries will be undermined. Much of this relates to a lack of trust and anti-multinational sentiment in poor countries. In 1992 an international convention on biological diversity that granted some patent protection to “traditional knowledge” was negotiated at the United Nations Conference in Rio de Janeiro. Unfortunately, the U.S. has yet to ratify the accord, in part because of lobbying in congress by the powerful pharmaceutical industry. As a result, countries like India and Brazil are instituting stricter controls on medicinal plants and much genuine scientific collaboration is left languishing in a bureaucratic quagmire. Brazil has nearly one-quarter of the world's plant species, many of which grow only in Brazil. Most of these have not yet been tested by Western science, though they have been used by indigenous people for thousands of years to cure a wide variety of ailments. The ethanobotanist Mark Plotkin, author of Tales of the Shaman's Apprentice and Medicine Quest, says that “the potential in this field is phenomenal,” but it is not going to be realized anytime soon unless traditional Western science uses its powerful analytical tools and resources. A large number of scientists in the developing world have been trained in the West. They could be encouraged to forge links with Western academic institutions with funding by private and philanthropic organizations. A clear set of rules and regulations for “bioprospecting” and the establishment of a framework for sharing in commercial rewards could be developed. A special court or tribunal can be established under the aegis of the United Nations that will adjudicate and arbitrate any conflicts or misunderstandings that arise. It is a pity that distrust—valid or not—between poor and rich nations prevents the discovery of medicines that would improve the health of all humankind.