Bio-prospecting in the Amazon
by Edward Hammond
On the Maranon River deep in the Peruvian Amazon, an Aguaruna Indian elder
lies sick. A woman knowledgeable of medicinal plants is asked to help. After
a day of skillfully prepared plant treatments and two more resting, the
elder is recovered and working in his garden.
What exactly cured him of the painful throbbing sensation in his liver, we
may never know--he believes it was magic-- but it is certain that
pharmaceutical companies want to find out and use that knowledge for
medicines and, of course, profits.
Long regarded as hocus-pocus by science, indigenous people's plant knowledge
is now thought by many to be the Amazon's new gold. Researchers have lately
"discovered" that Indians posses an unmatched knowledge of the rainforest.
Muscle relaxants, stomach pills, organic pesticides, and many more familiar
products come from Amazonian indigenous peoples.
Searching the rainforest for useful species, called bio- prospecting, has
arrived. But it has a dark side. Indian knowledge that has resisted the
pressure of "modernization" is being used by outsiders who, like oil
companies and loggers, threaten to leave no benefits behind them.
Why look to Amazonian Indians for new drugs? Laboratory synthesis of new
medicines is increasingly costly and not as fruitful as companies would
like. In the words of one major drug company: "Scientists may be able to
make any molecule they can imagine on a computer, but Mother NatureI is an
infinitely more ingenious and exciting chemist."
Scientists have developed new technologies to assess the chemical makeup
ofplants. They realize using medicinal plants identified by Indians makes
research less expensive and more efficient. Drug development is returning to
its roots in traditional medicine.
It is a noble idea, a la Sean Connery in Medicine Man: the ethnobotanist who
works with Indians, maybe seeking a cure for cancer or AIDS. Yet, behind
this lurks a system that--at its worst--steals Indian knowledge to benefit
CEOs, stockholders, and academic careers and reputations.
The names are familiar: Monsanto, Bristol Myers, Glaxo, Merck. While the
Aguarunago about their daily lives, thousands of miles away in U.S.
laboratories new rainforest medicines are being tested for FDA approval.
Soon, children with viral infections, adults with herpes, and others may
benefit from new medicines from the Peruvian Amazon.
What will the Aguaruna see of these wonderful new medicines? As corporations
rush to patent indigenous medicinal knowledge, the originating indigenous
communities have received few, if any, benefits. There are promises, but
they are vague and depend upon whims of bureaucrats and thumps of the
market. More real seems to be the threat to local indigenous peoples'
sovereignty as bio-prospecting increases.
Alluring mysteries
So alluring are the mysteries of indigenous medicinal knowledge that the
U.S. government itself is searching for these "new" treasures of the Amazon.
The National Institutes of Health is preparing to pay the Aguaruna a visit
in the form of a program that links pharmaceutical companies with scientists
and then sends them to the world's most biodiverse and remote areas.
Is this a boon to mankind or the last great pillage of the rainforest? The
answer will depend on whether scientific and corporate interests can be
turned into solid support for the Aguaruna's own priorities: land rights,
self- determination, and a healthy ecosystem.
Just say no?
First indications from the NIH program are not good. The Aguaruna are
concerned that their proposed benefits are tiny and the decision-making
process secretive.The project appears aimed at making the Indians bit
players in a deal to use their knowledge.
If new medicines are developed, celebrations more likely will be in
U.S.boardrooms than along the Maranon. The Aguaruna just might say no to
drugs.
As pharmaceutical companies rush to the rainforest, indigenous peoples such
as the Aguaruna have begun to identify how bio-prospecting can work better
for them and their forest homelands:
# more teeth for international agreements and local laws,
# careful tracking of source knowledge of medicinal
plants--giving credit where due,
# better compensation to communities,
# and most importantly, a strong voice for indigenous
peoples' organizations.
The possibilities of good bio-prospecting agreements are tremendous if the
process begins with scrupulous respect for indigenous peoples' concerns.
Bio-prospectors must turn rhetoric about Indians and rainforest protection
into real support. Otherwise, bio-prospecting may prove to be a dressed-up
version ofthe age-old practice of pirating indigenous peoples' resources.
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Edward Hammond is a graduate student in regional
planning at the University of Texas. For more information,
e-mail perezoso@charm.net
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>From World Rainforest Report, April - June 1995
Published by:
Rainforest Action Network
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San Francisco, CA 94111, U.S.A.
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Rainforest Action Network works to protect
the Earth's rainforests and support the rights of
their inhabitants through education, grassroots
organizing, and non-violent direct action.