A SOUTH African bush used to repel mosquitoes, a sea sponge and a human blood virus found in hunters in Cameroon are on a list of African genetic resources “for sale” to foreign companies.
A report detailing these and other new patent claims on extracts of African plants, trees and animals was released yesterday amid growing concern over international bio-piracy.
The report, by the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB), slams foreign companies for claiming to discover special uses and properties of African plants and animals – but failing to point out that Africans have known these for years.
The companies’ actions are illegal in terms of international patent law, claims the watchdog body. Companies and research institutes named in the report include Bayer, Christian Dior and the US Centre for Disease Control. Foreign firms and institutions are seeking patents on:
Viruses found in the blood of the Baka indigenous people of southern Cameroon. The viruses are of interest because they appear to be harmless and do not transmit from human to human.
The cases are international patent applications filed under the Patent Co-operation Treaty and first published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) in Geneva.
This is the first step to acquiring a patent, which then requires a separate application to individual countries.
Of the latest applications, three patents have already been granted – in the US , Spain and the European Union, including an EU patent on the African viruses.
All the applicants intend registering their patents in South Africa, the Wipo records show, although so far none have been granted here.
South African authorities and rights groups said the ACB report raised serious concern about increasing bio-piracy throughout Africa.
ACB director Mariam Mayet said: “This report once again brings into sharp relief the grave concerns expressed by activists, that the patent systems in Europe and the US are being used to promote the misappropriation of traditional knowledge and biological resources from the south.”
Reporters tried reaching several of the applicants, but managed to get comment from only the US firm NoNits, which has applied for a patent on lemon bush.
Company spokesperson Ricki de Wolff said: “The patent will cover SA, as I have had some very successful clinical trials with a formula against very specific mosquitoes in SA, as well as the US and Panama, especially with the malaria-transmitting genus Anopheles and the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti.”
South Africa introduced the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act No 10 of 2004 (Nemba) in April, which requires bio-prospectors to obtain a permit from the Department of Environmental Affairs for all projects involving “indigenous biological resources and its associated traditional knowledge”.
The department’s chief director of biodiversity and heritage, Shonisani Munzhedzi, said a permit would be issued to a foreign person or company only if they had a local South African partner.
“The overall aim of these pieces of legislation is to prevent the exploitation of intellectual property rights gathered from indigenous biological resources and its associated traditional knowledge for commercial gain without the indigenous communities benefiting from the commercialisation,” he said.
But Phephsile Maseko, co-ordinator of the Traditional Healers’ Association, said the legislation was not being enforced. Companies were also not obtaining bio-prospecting permits, he said.
“We tried to find out how many of the companies have applied for permits. It was less than 40 applications for the whole country.” — The Times, Avusa Group News