Foreign corporations have filed over 11,000 patents for a staggering 4,400 Peruvian plant products. The production and consumption of natural Andean and Amazonian ancestral products in Peru is threatened by the "biopiracy" of foreign companies who have filed over 11,690 patents for the domestic produce of the region, effectively poaching the natural heritage of the country. [...]
by Ritu Priya and Chris Mary Kurian The World Intellectual Property Organisation is set to debate the rights of users and beneficiaries of traditional health knowledge In fighting off attempts to patents on neem, basmati and turmeric, India has had some experience in safeguarding its traditional knowledge systems against patent authorities in western countries and pharmaceutical [...]
QUITO] Developed countries top the list of nations that have pirated Ecuador’s genetic resources, a report has found. The study lists the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and South Korea as the five countries that requested most patents for products derived from Ecuador’s endemic resources. So-called “biopirates” in these countries are responsible for 113 [...]
The adoption of a new international agreement against bio piracy will be the proposal defended by Ecuador in a meeting organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), being held in Geneva, an official source reported today. According to the National Secretariat for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (Senescyt), during the 30th Session [...]
In May, a record 65,000 people from 30 countries and 32 organizations have backed the complaint issued to the European Patent Office due to the approval of a Syngenta tomato discovered in South America and cultivated by traditional methods. The tomato was accepted as an "invention" in August 2015, with patent EP1515600, which further describes [...]
By Geoffrey Mohan-Contact Reporter Bryce Lundberg is elated, which is saying a lot for a California farmer these days. "Hop on in," he says, wading into eight acres of ragged stalks, their seed tassels turning russet in the desert sun. Lundberg, 54, soon is chest-high in quinoa, a crop that is thriving in an unexpected place: [...]
UNCTAD held two workshops in Peru last month to look at how the country could use the Nagoya Protocol to ensure it gets a fair share from research and commercial benefits derived from local microorganisms, plants and animals. Peru is home to more than 25,000 plant species, one-third of which can only be found on [...]
by Simon Wilson Cortijo In 1981 Loren Miller, a director of a natural medicine company, returned to the U.S. carrying a sample of the hallucinogenic plant ayahuasca. Miller’s proposal was to have the sample, apparently given to him by an indigenous tribe in Ecuador, patented as a new plant variety of his own making. The [...]
By Will Handley Chinese are accused of "biopiracy" which, if true, could decimate the Maca industry in Peru The maca root and its benefits have long been used by Peruvians. The native Andean people were the first to exploit the benefits of this tuber nearly 2000 years ago. Primarily used to help with fertility, anemia, [...]
By Hillary Ojeda The main maca markets include the US, China, and Japan. Even amid the smuggling and biopiracy of the Peruvian maca root, the extremely sought after food reached a total of US$ 28.7 million of worth in exports last year, according to Andina news agency. Government authorities are working to contain these smuggling [...]