Brazilian state takes on genetic piracy in Amazon
RTw 04.07.97 19:57
Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.
The following news report may not be republished or
redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written
consent of Reuters Ltd.
BRASILIA, July 4 (Reuter) - A state in Brazil's Amazon region
will restrict the access of foreign scientists and researchers to
the rainforest in a bid to curb the illegal trade in species and
genetics, a lawmaker said on Friday.
A law approved this week by the legislative assembly of Acre will
require non-Brazilian research groups to take out special
licenses to work in the state. They will also have to work in
association with Brazilian scientists.
Another provision in the bill seeks to guarantee payment of
royalties to native Indian communities in return for their
knowledge of the rainforest's plantlife.
"This law will stop the modern form of colonalism which has
been growing in the Amazon region for some years," Edvaldo
Magalhaes, a Brazilian Communist Party lawmaker who wrote the
bill, said.
Government officials have long suspected that foreign researchers
often do not register genetic discoveries made in the Amazon and
other parts of the country to avoid paying royalties and other
taxes.
Magalhaes mentioned the case of a non-governmental organisation
that was recently found to have been trading painkillers with six
Indian tribes in Acre for species of plants with medicinal
properties. The plants were then sold to international
pharmaceutical companies, Magalhaes said. REUTER