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The Problem of Technology
Published in Cameron La Follette , Chris Maser, Sustainability and the Rights of Nature, 2017
Cameron La Follette , Chris Maser
Biological prospecting or “bioprospecting,” as Kimbrell calls it, has the potential to be a veritable gold mine for industry and science because the untapped genetic materials found in the non-industrialized countries of the world may well yield cures for some of society’s ills, as well as a bounty of cash. The prospect of potential monetary wealth from Nature’s genetic materials has already sent “biopirates” into countries such as India to steal living things and potential drugs under the guise of improving “unoccupied” knowledge. Biopiracy is not solely the product of scientists wed more thoroughly than in the past to corporate greed for their research dollars; it is also the result of a new law based on a 1980s U.S. Supreme Court decision, Diamond v. Chakrabarty.44 By granting legal permission for bioprospecting with the intent to commit biopiracy, the effect of this little-known court decision is, according to Kimbrell, “one of the most important judicial decisions of the twentieth century.”45
Objectives and categories of MPAs
Published in Peter J. S. Jones, Governing Marine Protected Areas, 2014
Healthy, diverse marine ecosystems are also increasingly recognised as an important source of genetic resources, particularly of biochemicals that are of research value as potential pharmaceutical and biotechnology compounds. The need to recognise the objective of MPAs of protecting and providing such marine genetic resources has been identified as an urgent priority, as has the need to address related issues such as biopiracy and benefit sharing (Arrieta et al., 2010).
Other Forms of IPRs
Published in Uday S. Racherla, Intellectual Assets for Engineers and Scientists, 2018
“Biopiracy” is defined as the process through which the rights of indigenous cultures to genetic resources and knowledge are “erased and replaced for those who have exploited indigenous knowledge and biodiversity.” In fact, there are many instances of patents obtained on GR and TK, without the consent of the rightful holders of the resources and knowledge from the developing countries.
Extractivist epistemologies
Published in Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society, 2022
The case of what has come to be called “biopiracy” will provide some examples of these points. Biopiracy is a concept meant to describe the assortment of activities by major transnational corporations to acquire exclusive rights over various resources and processes involving food and health. Something like twelve such corporations (constant mergers render the numbers unreliable, but it is small), mostly from the global north, control the world’s food and agriculture industries, which are often integrated with health industries that require the mass production of certain plants with pharmacological properties. These corporations use international and national laws to secure access to and power over what the world’s population needs to survive. Along the way, entities of global capital affect how knowledge is defined and which epistemic resources come into view.