136 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
136 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
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INDIGENOUS PERSON FROM PAPUA NEW GUINEA CLAIMED
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IN US GOVERNMENT PATENT
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"Another major step down the road to the commodification of life"
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says Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) Director Pat Mooney.
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RAFI moves to take the life patenting issue to the World Court.
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Patenting Indigenous People
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In an unprecedented move, the United States Government has issued itself a
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patent on a foreign citizen. On March 14, 1995, an indigenous man of the
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Hagahai people from Papua New Guinea's remote highlands ceased to own his
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genetic material. While the rest of the world is seeking to protect the
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knowledge and resources of indigenous people, the National Institutes of
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Health (NIH) is patenting them. "This patent is another major step down
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the road to the commodification of life. In the days of colonialism,
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researchers went after indigenous people's resources and studied their
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social organizations and customs. But now, in biocolonial times, they are
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going after the people themsleves" says Pat Roy Mooney, RAFI's Executive
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Director, who is at The Hague investigating prospects for a World Court
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challenge to the patenting of human genetic material.
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The Hagahai, who number a scant 260 persons and only came into consistent
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contact with the outside world in 1984, now find their genetic material -
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the very core of their physical identity - the property of the United
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States Government. The same patent application is pending in 19 other
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countries. Though one of the "inventors,"resident in Papua New Guinea,
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apparently signed an agreement giving a percentage of any royalties to the
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Hagahai, the patent makes no concrete provision for the Hagahai to receive
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any compensation for becoming the property of the US Government.. Indeed,
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the Hagahai are likely to continue to suffer threats to their very survival
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from disease and other health problems brought by outsiders.
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RAFI's Jean Christie has recently returned to Australia after consultations
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with the governments of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands (one of
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whose citizens is also subject to claims in a related US Government patent
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application). On her return from Port Moresby and Honiara, Christie said
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"This outrageous patent has provoked anger in the Pacific and is a matter
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of deep concern worldwide."
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In response to 1993 investigations by the Government of the Solomon Islands
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and RAFI, NIH's Jonathan Friedlander (Physical Anthropology Program
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Director) wrote to the Solomon Islands Ambassador to the United Nations,
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allaying their concerns by saying that the patent applications "will likely
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be abandoned entirely or not allowed." Contrary to Friedlander's
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indication, in the course of routine research prior to Christie's trip to
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the Pacific RAFI discovered that the patent was issued 6 months ago.
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Linked to the "Vampire Project"?
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The first-ever patent of an indigenous person comes as an international
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group of scientists are embarking on the Human Genome Diversity Project
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(HGDP), which aims to draw blood and tissue samples from as many indigenous
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groups in the world as possible. While the Hagahai are not specifically
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mentioned in the draft "hit list" of the HGDP -- dubbed the "vampire
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project" by its opponents worldwide -- it has targeted over 700 indigenous
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groups, including 41 from Papua New Guinea, for "sampling" by researchers.
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Friedlander, who wrote that the patent application would likely be
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withdrawn, participated in the development of the HGDP and was among those
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at its founding meeting. Within weeks of the patent's issue, Friedlander
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returned the Pacific on business related to the collection of blood
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samples. At the same time, indigenous people and NGOs from across the
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Pacific are working on the implementation of a "Lifeforms Patent-Free
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Pacific Treaty."
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As recently as last week's UNESCO Bioethics Committee meeting, HGDP
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Director Dr. Luca Cavalli-Sforza claimed that the project did not support
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the patenting of indigenous peoples' DNA. In contrast, at the Beijing
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Women's Conference, Sami indigenous women from the Nordic countries added
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their voice to the dozens of indigenous peoples' organizations that have
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denounced the project as a violation of their rights. "The thin veneer of
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the HGDP as an academic, non-commercial exercise has been shattered by the
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US government patenting an indigenous person from Papua New Guinea," said
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Edward Hammond, Program Officer with RAFI-USA in North Carolina.
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The Value of Human DNA: Mining Indigenous Communities for Raw Materials
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NIH's patent (US 5,397,696) claims a cell line containing the unmodified
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Hagahai DNA and several methods for its use in detecting HTLV-1-related
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retroviruses. The team that patented the cell line is headed by the 1976
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Nobel Laureate in Medicine, Dr. D.Carleton Gajdusek. Recent cases have
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concretely demonstrated the economic value of human DNA from remote
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populations in the diagnosis and treatment of disease and development of
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vaccines. Blood samples drawn from the asthmatic inhabitants of the remote
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South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha were sold by researchers to a
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California-based company which in turn sold rights to its as yet unproved
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technologies for asthma treatment to German giant Boehringer Ingelheim for
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US $70 million.
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NIH patent claims on indigenous people's genetic material are pursued
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abroad by the National Technical Information Service, a division of the US
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Department of Commerce. Ronald Brown, the US Secretary of Commerce has
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left no question as to his interpretation of the controversy, stating
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"Under our laws... subject matter relating to human cells is patentable and
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there is no provision for considerations relating to the source of the
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cells that may be the subject of a patent application." The Hagahai, and
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millions of other indigenous people, in other words, are raw material for
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US business.
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RAFI believes that this is only the beginning of a dangerous trend toward
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the commodification of humanity and the knowledge of indigenous people.
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Whether human genetic material or medicinal plants are the target, there is
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scarcely a remote rural group in the world that is not being visited by
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predatory researchers. Indigenous people, whose unique identity is in part
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reflected in their genes, are prime targets of gene hunters. Says Leonora
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Zalabata of the Arhuaco people of Colombia: "This could be another form of
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exploitation, only this time they are using us as raw materials."
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RAFI Challenges the Patenting of Human Beings
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RAFI has been closely following the patenting of indigenous people since
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1993, when pressure from RAFI and the Guaymi General Congress led to the
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withdrawal of a patent application by the US Secretary of Commerce on a
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cell line from a Guaymi indigenous woman from Panama. RAFI is currently
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investigating prospects to bring the issue of human patenting to the World
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Court at the Hague as well as the Biodiversity Convention and relevant
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multilateral bodies.
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CONTACTS:
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Pat Mooney, Executive Director Ottawa, ONT (Canada) (613) 567-6=
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880
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Jean Christie, International Liaison Queensland, Australia
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(61) 79 394-792
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Edward Hammond, Program Officer Pittsboro, NC (USA)
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(919) 542-1396
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DATE: 4 October 1995
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