Examples of Biopiracy

Define is biopiracy.  Give two historic and one modern examples of this practice and briefly explain the impacts of the plant ‘transfers’.

Biopiracy occurs when others use indigenous people’s knowledge of nature for profit.  The outsiders do not have permission to use this indigenous knowledge and usually give little or no compensation or recognition to the indigenous people. 

One historic example of biopiracy happened in the 1800s when a man named Robert Fortune traveled to Hong Kong.  He was a seasoned plant hunter who was sent to China by the East India Company.  He spent three years searching for a long list of plants that were in his contract while also stealing new, unknown species.  Fortune made two more trips to China and one to Japan.  He was said to have introduced over 120 ornamental species to Britain.  Fortune collected seed and tea plants from inland China and brought them back to the East India Company in India during 1848.    

Another historic event of biopiracy occurred when ‘Yellow bark’ was extracted from a region from southern Peru.  In 1858 an agreement was reached between the Indi Office and Kew to send an expedition to gather species of cinchona tree.  Clements R. Markham and Richard Spruce plant hunted in the Andes without compensation to the indigenous people of the region.    

Biopiracy continues to happen in modern times.  One example of this happened to the hoodia, a succulent plant that originates form the Kalahari Desert of South Africa.  The indigenous San people of the area have known for generations that this plant could be used as an appetite suppressant. In 1996 a company named Unilever decided to use the plant to develop a dietary supplements.  They did not plan to give any benefits to the San people from the commercialization of their traditional knowledge.  These are just some of the many examples of biopiracy that have happened in historical and modern times in the world.

Image citation:

1) http://web.williams.edu/AnthSoc/native/biopiracy.htm

2)http://lochantea.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id

3) http://www.icecubediet.com/15-day-repeat-dose-study-hoodia-gordonii/

Relevant Websites:

1) http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/pir-ch.htm

2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioprospecting#Basmati_rice

3) http://www.nature.nps.gov/benefitssharing/whatis.cfm

4) http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Jh2996e/6.3.html

5)http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/techniques/bioprospecting.aspx