Biopiracy describes the illegal commercial use of biological
resources and their associated traditional knowledge, or the patenting of
inventions based on this knowledge without compensation. Over the years, plants
have been stolen and exploited by other people, companies or countries many
times.
One important example of biopiracy is the tea transfer of
1848. Although India is today’s world biggest tea producer, tea was not even cultivated
there before the 1850s. China used to be the only supplier of tea to the East
India Company. However, the Chinese would only trade tea for silver, which was
difficult to obtain. The East India Company got tired of it and decided to send
a plant hunter, Robert Fortune to China in 1848 ‘for the purpose of obtaining
the finest varieties of the tea plant, as well as native manufacturers and
implements, for the government plantations in the Himalayas’. He arrived in
Calcutta in March 1851 after having successfully stolen tea from China. When
tea was taken illegally out of China, it had a very negative effect on the
country’s economy. Indeed, by 1890, India was supplying 90% of Britain’s domestic
market.
Robert Fortune
http://littleredcuptea.tumblr.com/post/38955101927/robert-fortune-tea-thief
Another significant economic act of biopiracy is the
appropriation of rubber by the British from Brazil. Rubber comes from South
America and the Aztecs already made it as early as 1600BC. In 1876 the British
Kew Botanical Garden and the India office decided to grow rubber trees in
India, Ceylon and the straits settlements of Singapore, which took about 20
years. It was Henry Alexander Wickham (1846-1928) who acquired the seeds in
Brazil. The first commercial rubber tree plantations in India were established
in 1902 using the Hevea brasiliensis tree seeds. During the 19th
century, Brazil had a monopoly on rubber and produced 98% of the world’s
rubber, but after Wickham left the country, its world production fell down to
5% ruining the Amazon economy.
Hevea Brasiliensis seeds
http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/hevea-brasiliensis-rubber-tree
Biopiracy is still a current issue; one example is the case
of basmati rice. It is produced mostly in Punjab, Western India and in Pakistan
and has been grown in India for centuries. It is now one of the fastest growing
exports from India. Texasbased RiceTec Inc. obtained a patent in 1997 for a new
plant variety that is a cross between Basmati rice and American long-grain
rice. The new rice could be grown in specific areas of North America. The
patent covers the genetic lines of the basmati rice. RiceTec has been selling
rice under new brand names labels them as ‘American type Basmati Rice’. RiceTec
could become a real threat to the sales of Indian Basmati rice and alter the
economic conditions of the Indian farmers. However new measures are being taken
in order to prevent this from happening and to avoid the recurrence of
biopiracy in the future.
Jasmati Rice, a RiceTec brand
http://www.amazon.com/RiceSelect-Jasmati-Rice-32-Ounce-Jars/dp/B000EH4XYS
Relevant sites
http://www.amazonlink.org/biopiracy/acai.htm
http://www.ilshs.pl/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ILSHS-12-2014-49-56.pdf
http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/hevea-brasiliensis-rubber-tree
Does this mean that Rice Tex has a patent over all Basmati rice, or just their mixed strain? Do you know if this patent would extend outside of the United States?
ReplyDeleteHi Ann,
ReplyDeleteRice Tex has a patent over their mixed strain of rice that is grown in the US. The patent allows Rice Tex to call its rice Basmati within the US but also for its exports. This has dramatic consequences on the real Himalayan Basmati as it lost an important part of the American market but also of the European and Middle Eastern markets.