UN sets sail for battle with ‘biopirates'

GENEVA: The appropriation of traditional knowledge surrounding genetic resources is in the crosshairs at the United Nations, with a fortnight of talks opening Monday on putting an end to so-called biopiracy.

After more than 20 years of negotiations, the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization hopes to conclude a treaty that will protect such knowledge from exploitation by enforcing greater transparency in the patenting system.

“This is a historic moment,” said WIPO chief Daren Tang, as the agency's more than 190 member states gather at its Geneva headquarters for talks that run until May 24.

“It's about fighting biopiracy, that's to say the use of traditional knowledge or genetic resources without the agreement of those who held them and without them being able to benefit from them,” said Christophe Bigot, who is leading the French delegation.

While natural genetic resources — such as those found in medicinal plants, agricultural crops and animal breeds — cannot be directly protected as international property, inventions developed using them can be patented.

These resources are increasingly used by companies in everything from cosmetics to seeds, medicines, biotechnology and food supplements. Nongovernmental organisations cite the cases of maca plants from Peru, hoodia from South Africa and neem from India.

Although arduous, there have been victories, as with neem. In 1995, the properties of this tree — used in India for thousands of years in agriculture, medicine and cosmetics — were the subject of a series of patents filed in particular by the US chemicals giant W. R. Grace. After 10 years of fighting, the European Patent Office withdrew a patent for the first time on the grounds of 'biopiracy'. —