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Hands off our genes, say Pacific Islanders
WELLINGTON: Pacific Islanders are
demanding the power to restrict patenting of their human, plant
and animal genes, even if they run foul of international patent
laws.
A new book documents 16 ‘acrimonious’ encounters between
scientific researchers and indigenous communities and calls for
Pacific states to take a united approach to gaining control over
such patents in the region.
“Researchers are harvesting and patenting the Pacific region’s
genetic resources by simply gathering and taking ownership over
almost everything in their path,” co-editor of the book, Aroha
Mead of the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand,
says.
She says lack of regulation and a lack of knowledge about the
latest genetic technologies and intellectual patent law has made
the region a major target for commercial gene hunters.
The book, Pacific Genes & Life Patents, is published by
international indigenous activist group – Call of the Earth – and
the United Nations University in Tokyo.
The book says a major problem is that communities involved in
research often don’t give informed consent.
It documents an early example in which the US government filed
patents on material taken from the Hagahai tribe in Papua New
Guinea and the Solomon Islands in the early 1990s.
As a result, the book says, Hagahai immune cells can be bought
today from the American Type Culture Collection for U$216, despite
subsequent objections from those involved that they had not been
informed.
The book documents other cases in which researchers gained consent
from people who were not representative of their community.
This resulted in conflicts within the community and the
community’s eventual withdrawal from the research.
Scientific research and patenting can often offend deeply held
cultural values, co-editor Dr Steven Ratuva, of the University of
the South Pacific in Fiji, says.
He says that patents on genes
in medicinal plants conflict with the traditional view that such
plants are common property,
available for everyone.
While fair compensation for exploiting indigenous knowledge can be
important, there are other issues at stake, Dr Ratuva says.
“It’s not only a matter of money. There are certain aspects of the
culture which a lot of communities think cannot be bought or sold.
“Plants and animals are not seen as mere physical or biological
entities but also as embodiment of ancestral spirits,” he says.
He says recognition of local people’s world view, even if it
appears absurd to outsiders, must be part of the process in
working out any patent or bioprospecting agreements.
The book renews calls for a Regional Pacific Intellectual Property
Office to vet patent applications and make sure they conform with
Pacific Island cultural values.
Leaders at the intergovernmental Pacific Islands Forum say they
also want such a regional office.
Mead says Pacific states should also pass laws to either prevent
or significantly reduce patents on life.
But Prof Brad Sherman, director of the Australian Centre for
Intellectual Property in Agriculture, says such laws will
contravene current World Trade Organisation rules on intellectual
property relating to plants and animals.
“It’s at odds with the trend on intellectual property across the
world over the last decade which has seen any prohibitions on
patenting of life being removed from the laws,” he says.
Any countries that contravene the WTO rules run the risk of
economic sanctions, Sherman, who is based at the University of
Queensland, says.
He says in his experience bioprospectors are often public sector
researchers, who are under pressure to generate income from
patenting.
And he says tough gene patent laws will not stop such researchers
from taking material out of the Pacific region and patenting it
elsewhere.
Mead is aware going against the tide will not be easy but is
committed.
“Patents are out of control and a growing number of sectors of
society are indicating that limits do need to be drawn,” she says.
– Pacnews
 
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