Biopiracy is the act of taking knowledge and genetic resources from farming or indigenous communities without permission, often to claim exclusive control through patents or intellectual property. Bioprospecting involves searching natural resources for new chemical compounds that may have medical or anti-microbial uses. When companies profit from bioprospecting, they may try to claim ownership of indigenous medicinal plants, seeds, genetic resources, or traditional medicines.
If biological resources or traditional knowledge are taken from indigenous or marginalized groups, the commercial use of these resources can harm their communities. While bioprospecting and biochemical research can lead to medical advances, taking genetic resources from indigenous lands without fair payment often results in unfair treatment. Biopiracy can harm indigenous people in several ways. If traditional knowledge is not properly compensated, the sudden increase in the value of a species used for medicine can make it unaffordable for the people who originally used it. In some cases, a patent held by a foreign company may stop indigenous groups from using or selling the resource. Nearly one-third of all small-molecule drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 1981 and 2014 were natural products or based on natural compounds, showing that bioprospecting and biopiracy are growing, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) notes that the medicinal knowledge of the Kallawaya communities in Peru has been affected because their traditions lack legal protection from pharmaceutical companies. Research projects are currently studying biopiracy, including digital methods that analyze data and map organizations involved in the issue.
Advances in biochemistry and molecular biology allow scientists to extract and identify specific genes that control enzymes, which help change one molecule into another. This scientific progress raises the question of whether the organism containing a modified gene should be credited to the country where the gene originally came from.
History
Biopiracy is linked to colonial history, when countries rich in natural resources and indigenous groups were taken advantage of without permission. When European settlers arrived in search of gold, silver, and rare spices, they valued the knowledge of plants and their uses. After Marco Polo traveled through parts of India and China, Christopher Columbus continued exploring the "Spice Route" with support from the Spanish Court. These explorers, along with many others, had a history of taking resources from indigenous communities and harming the environment. Western companies in food and medicine benefited greatly from these actions. Valuable items like sugar, pepper, quinine, and coffee were taken from colonized countries, causing environmental damage in those regions.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), created in 1947, aimed to help international trade by reducing trade barriers such as taxes or limits on goods. Later, the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement was added to GATT. Columbus set a pattern in 1492 by receiving land titles from European rulers, which acted like patents for colonizers. The World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on TRIPS tries to balance trade and intellectual property rights. Since 1994, WTO members must create laws to protect plant and animal resources in areas like agriculture, medicine, and textiles. Some countries have criticized this agreement, saying it harms their ability to protect natural resources.
Modern laws about property and intellectual rights, created by GATT and WTO, continue ideas from the colonial past, such as "discovering and conquering" and "subduing and possessing." Environmental activist Vandana Shiva calls patenting genetic material and bio-resources "the second coming of Columbus" because it repeats colonial power patterns. For example, companies in former colonial countries have patented Indian products like tamarind, turmeric, and Darjeeling tea without giving credit to Indian communities, where these items were used in traditional medicine for centuries. In 2010, The University of Mississippi tried to patent curcumin, the main ingredient in turmeric, to make drugs for healing wounds without recognizing India’s long history of using turmeric for medical purposes.
The "Gene Rush" is a new phase of biotechnology where scientists extract specific genes from living things for use in research. Sri Lanka, a country with high biodiversity and many medicinal plants, is at risk of biopiracy. It is one of the top 34 biodiversity hotspots in the world and has 1,500 known medicinal plant species. Because of this, protecting the environment and conserving resources are important goals in Sri Lanka. Recently, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), along with Sri Lanka’s government and the Spice Council, has worked to improve the production and competitiveness of cinnamon in the country.
The term "biopiracy" was first used in the early 1990s by Pat Mooney, founder of ETC Group, which helps protect vulnerable people from the effects of new technologies. He describes biopiracy as when researchers or organizations take biological resources without permission, often from poorer countries or marginalized groups. This includes stealing or misusing genetic resources and traditional knowledge through the intellectual property system, as well as collecting genetic resources for commercial use without giving credit or compensation. Mooney and others who criticize the patent system believe it creates unfair advantages by allowing wealthy groups to control basic life-building materials.
Intellectual property and international law
Intellectual property rights (IPR) include patents, copyrights, industrial design rights, trademarks, plant variety rights, trade dress, geographical indications, and sometimes trade secrets. These rights were created to support and encourage scientific discoveries and creative work. However, they often help large companies in many countries more than others.
Early intellectual property agreements were made in the late 1800s by European countries. These agreements did not consider how intellectual property affected people, cultures, and traditions outside Europe. In the late 1900s, more unfairness was added to the intellectual property system, changing it from shared knowledge rights to private rights. The TRIPS agreement, which is part of international trade rules, treats these rights as private. This change allows large companies to control shared knowledge, leading to more control by businesses.
Another issue is that intellectual property rights are only recognized if they make money, not if they help society. The TRIPS agreement states that an idea must be able to create profit to be protected, which can prevent recognition of ideas that help people but do not make money.
At the same time, the international community has worked on new laws to fix problems in the intellectual property system, especially for indigenous people and local communities. These efforts aim to stop unfair use of natural resources and traditional knowledge.
In 1992, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) included rules about genetic resources and traditional knowledge. In 2010 (became active in 2014), the Nagoya Protocol to the CBD created ways to ensure fair access and sharing of benefits from genetic resources.
In June 2023, the United Nations adopted the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, also called the "High Seas Treaty." This agreement focuses on protecting and using marine life in areas outside national borders, following rules from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Since 2001, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has worked through its Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore (IGC) to fix gaps in international laws related to the misuse of genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and cultural expressions.
The first major result of the IGC's work was a Diplomatic Conference in May 2024 to create a treaty about patent rules for genetic resources and traditional knowledge. On May 24, 2024, the WIPO Diplomatic Conference officially approved the "landmark" WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, and Associated Traditional Knowledge (GRATK). This treaty was signed by 30 countries on the day it was approved.
Examples
In the dry regions of India, the neem tree, also known as Azadirachta indica, is a fast-growing evergreen tree that can reach up to 20 meters in height. It contains powerful chemical compounds, such as azadirachtin, found in its seeds. The neem tree is used in medicine, personal care products, birth control, timber, fuel, and farming. Historically, people in India could access neem products for free or at low cost. There are about 14 million neem trees in India, and a traditional village method used to create a pesticide mixture from the tree does not need expensive tools. Villagers used the many medicinal compounds from the tree, which was easy to grow. In 1971, US timber importer Robert Larson discovered the tree’s usefulness and studied its pesticide properties in neem extract called Margosan-O for ten years. After the US Environmental Protection Agency approved the product in 1985, Larson sold the patent to W.R. Grace. In 1994, the company patented a neem-based antifungal spray called Neemex. However, rural farmers in India have used neem extracts for about 2,000 years.
India’s Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology (RFSTE) challenged the US patent, stating that the neem tree’s properties and uses were known in India for over 2,000 years. The Congressional Research Service supported the patent by claiming that synthetic versions or processes to make the compound should be patentable. The patent was later canceled by the European Patent Office in 2000. The neem tree has become a symbol of Indigenous knowledge and resistance against large corporations. Protesters against international property laws carried neem branches as a sign of opposition.
The Hoodia plant, found in the Kalahari Desert, was used for thousands of years by the San people of southern Africa to survive hunger and thirst during long desert journeys. In 2016, South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) received government funding to patent a weight loss drug called P57, derived from the plant. Scientists at CSIR isolated the P57 molecule in 1996 after studying Indigenous plants for many years. The patent rights were later sold to Western companies, Pfizer and Phytopharm.
After the patent was approved, San people, supported by critics of patent laws and bioethicists, asked for their rights to be restored. After a long discussion, CSIR and the San people reached a private agreement where the San received money, knowledge sharing, and job opportunities from the industry.
Greenwashing is a term created by environmentalist Jay Westervelt in 1986. It refers to false claims by companies that make them seem environmentally friendly. Many large companies avoid explaining specific goals or measurable results of their environmental efforts, creating the illusion of being eco-friendly. Resources taken from Indigenous communities are often used in corporate environmental campaigns. Because of the harmful practices in the fast fashion industry, many "green" product lines from companies only help their marketing and worsen problems like textile waste and climate change.
Nike faced criticism after its 2020 report showed limited progress in sustainability. To address this, Nike launched the Happy Pineapple Collection, which includes shoes made with Ananas Anam’s vegan leather and tropical fruit designs on models like the Air Max 90, Air Max 95, Air Force One, and Air-Zoom.
H&M’s Conscious Collection, introduced in 2010, also partners with Ananas Anam to make vegan leather jackets. Because there is unclear information about Piñatex’s ability to break down naturally, the Norwegian Consumer Authority accused H&M of misleading customers with vague sustainability claims. H&M responded by accepting the criticism and promising to share more details about the product’s value.
New efforts
The Convention on Biological Diversity, created by the United Nations in 1992, required that bioprospecting—searching for useful plants and animals—must only occur with the agreement of the country where the resources are found. The agreement stated that using local resources for medicine and drugs should include local traditional communities, and any profits should be shared fairly. This was made clearer by the 2010 Nagoya Protocol (NP), which required countries to give permission before biological material could be collected or moved. However, this led to problems because some developing countries avoided approving even basic research, and scientists working on unrelated projects were sometimes arrested. Material transfer agreements (MTAs), which are contracts for moving biological samples, also became slow under NP, stopping natural history museums from sharing materials regularly. This risked samples being kept permanently in the origin country if MTAs were not approved.
The International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) is a group of bioprospecting projects funded by the U.S. government. Its main goal is to find and study plants with chemical compounds that could treat diseases in the United States. However, the countries where research takes place are promised fair rewards and benefits. Local jobs are created by doing early steps of research, like extracting and analyzing samples, in local labs. If research leads to drugs that are sold, half of the money earned is put into community development funds managed by indigenous people.