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Before disclosing the cloning breakthrough, patent applications were filed and research papers prepared for publication. PPL Therapeutics, a small biotechnology company will be assigned the patent. After the cloning announcement, shares of PPL Therapeutics jumped 16% in one day on the London Stock Exchange.
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This map illustrates the transfer of human tissues through third countries. This graphic is part of the Communique on Human Tissue Trade.
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Despite the promise of medical breakthroughs, the utilization of human tissue prompts intense ethical concerns regarding ownership of human biomaterials, eugenics, discrimination and medical confidentiality. A large and growing South to North and North to North movement of human tissue is taking place in an almost total policy and regulatory vacuum.
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Company Estimated 1996 seed sales (US) millions Comment
Pioneer Hi-Bred Intl. (USA) $1,721 Dupont now owns 20% share in Pioneer
Novartis (Switzerland) $991 formerly Ciba Geigy and Sandoz
Limagrain (France) $552 French cooperative; claims to be the world's largest vegetable seed company.
Advanta - joint venture of Zeneca/Van der Have (The Netherlands) $493 Zeneca and Royal VanderHave established joint venture in 1996. The name of their merged company is Advanta
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Just when we thought that the U.S. patent system couldn't possibly operate any more to the advantage of big business, there's a bill before the US Congress that proposes to modernize" the US Patent and Trademark Office by making it a private corporation. (1)
Privatization of the US PTO? This is not a joke. HR 400, "The 21st Century Patent System Improvement Act" is a series of six acts that propose major changes in the US patent system. Backed by powerful interests, the bill is moving quickly through Congress, and a vote is expected in the House of Representatives any day.
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An introduction to intellectual property monopolies. The 70 page booklet produced by IDRC in 1996 is designed as an information and advocacy tool for civil society and policymakers in response to two new, legally binding international agreements: the Convention on Biological Diversity and the World Trade Organization's Trade Related Intellectual Property Agreement (WTO/TRIPs).
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"Biopiracy" -- a term coined by RAFI in 1994 - refers to the use of intellectual property laws to gain exclusive monopoly control over genetic resources that are based on the knowledge and innovation of farmers and indigenous peoples. This issue examines a patent claim on Bolivian quinoa, a US patent on turmeric, and more.
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Protocol on Gene Access Could MUSEum Farmers' Rights & Sanction North's MonoUSE
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The Parts of Life Agricultural Biodiversity, Indigenous Knowledge, and the Role of the Third System By Pat Roy Mooney
Development Dialogue is published by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation.
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After months of indecision and confusing signals, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has finally put an end to its internationally-denounced patent on the human cell line of a Hagahai indigenous person from Papua New Guinea. I hope this is the end of what is arguably the most offensive patent ever issued." says Alejandro Argumedo of the Canada-based Indigenous Peoples' Biodiversity Network (IPBN).
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This is RAFI's first annual update on the "Life Industry" - the giant transnational enterprises that use, buy, sell and control an ever-growing market share of bio-industrial products relating to food, agriculture and health. A list of the top 10 corporations, ranked by 1995 sales, is given for each sector.
Submitted by ETC Group on
Submitted by ETC Group on
Submitted by ETC Staff on
Pharmaceutical firms and biotech companies are approaching botanical gardens to buy samples of tropical plant diversity - a clear violation of the spirit - if not the law - of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The rights of farmers and indigenous peoples are being bypassed by corporate deals that make a mockery of the CBD's fundamental principles.
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RAFI reviews the context, issues, events and strategies leading up to the Fourth Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources in Leipzig, 17-23 June 1996. A 12 page document.
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Draft World Food Summit Declaration and Plan of Action Entrenches Food Insecurity – but the Debate is Far from Over
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Human Tissue Collection Initiatives by the U.S. Military; Colombian Indigenous Peoples' Cells in the U.S.; Accompanying maps showing cell collections inColombia and Papua New Guinea
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RAFI's survey of agricultural biodiversity reveals that 75% of ex situ genetic resources and technology are held in the North, while 83% of in-situ genetic resources and technology are held in the South. Multilateral regimes for agricultural biodiversity management must insure that proceeds from biodiversity benefits go to the South's farmers.
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ISSUE: Biodiversity prospecting is the exploration, extraction and screening of biological diversity and indigenous knowledge for commercially valuable genetic and biochemical resources. Bilateral bioprospecting agreements are sanctioned by the multilateral Convention on Biological Diversity. In the vast majority of cases, however, commercial bioprospecting agreements cannot be effectively monitored or enforced by source communities, countries, or by the Convention, and amount to little more than "legalized" bio-piracy.
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RAFI examines plant utility patents granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office from 1985 through mid-1995. Utility plant patenting is a threat to world food security; exceedingly broad patents on biological materials and the processes used to manipulate them are "locking up" new plant biotechnologies in the hands of a small number of corporations.
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