Biopiracy and states’ sovereignty over their biological resources

In the last several decades, indigenous communities had to contend with the misappropriation of their biological resources and associated traditional knowledge (TK) through the inappropriate exercise of intellectual property rights (IPRs). The advent of modern biotechnology has intensified this problem leaving indigenous communities increasingly vulnerable. As a counter measure, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted in 1992, proclaiming the sovereignty of states over their biological resources, and requiring their consent and the equitable sharing of benefits on mutually agreed terms as conditions for access. On October 29, 2010, the Nagoya Protocol was adopted to implement these provisions. Nevertheless, the CBD has attracted critical comments from those opposed to the idea of state sovereignty over biological resources, especially when the exercise of sovereignty transcends a state’s territorial borders. Two alternative doctrines; “the common heritage of mankind”, and “the global commons”, have been canvassed. This paper set out to analyse these arguments together with the alternative doctrines, in order to determine whether state sovereignty over biological resources as proclaimed by the CBD is justified. The merits of each doctrine were examined against the background of the problems presented to indigenous communities by the trinity of biopiracy, IPRs and modern biotechnology. The paper found that the doctrine of state sovereignty over biological resources, whilst having its limitations, is not only normatively justified, but is also, comparatively more capable of helping to protect the biological resources and associated TK of indigenous communities against piracy.Key words: Indigenous communities, biological resources, traditional knowledge, biopiracy, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), plant breeders’ rights, patents, sovereignty

Public attitude towards modern biotechnology

This article reviews the literature related to the main idea of the study, rooting from the definition of biotechnology, global status of commercialized biotechnology products, and global and local public attitudes towards modern biotechnology and past models for attitude towards modern biotechnology. The first section of the review will be the in-depth-discussion regarding the definition of modern biotechnology according to several established international organizations, followed by global status of commercialized biotechnology products which will emphasize on how modern biotechnology is classified and which area are being focused more by the stakeholders, and global and local public attitudes towards modern biotechnology based on previous studies. Last but not least, the final section is credited to past studies related to attitudes and past models of public attitudes towards biotechnology, both globally and locally. A developing country like Malaysia was chosen in this article as an example of the case study related to local situation of modern biotechnology.Key words: Modern biotechnology, genetically modified (GM), public attitude, Malaysi

Pharmaceutical patents and access to essential medicines in sub-Saharan Africa

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) has reawakened old arguments over the impact of the intellectual property (IP) system on public access to essential medicines. As used here, essential medicines are those needed in symptom management, palliative care, and in the treatment of infections, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), malaria, tuberculosis, and sleeping sickness in places like sub-Saharan Africa. Some argue that patents will further inhibit access to these medicines in sub-Saharan Africa. Others, however, argue the opposite. The latter maintain that patent protection under TRIPS can promote the growth of the pharmaceutical industry in places like sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, they assert that pharmaceutical patents are not responsible for the limited access to essential medicines in sub-Saharan Africa. Instead, they trace the problem of access to non-patent factors, such as poverty, the lack of supportive infrastructure, and poor governance. This paper set out to assess these contrasting arguments, with a view to determining the actual impact that pharmaceutical patents may be having on access to essential medicines in sub-Saharan Africa. Keyword search of electronic databases was conducted, in addition to a review of relevant literature from print sources. A manual analysis then followed. It was found that, rather than a single set of factors, both patent and nonpatent factors combine to inhibit access to essential medicines in sub-Saharan Africa. It is imperative for sub-Saharan African countries to review current tariff and taxation policies, take steps to improve the supply of vital infrastructure, and strengthen their overall healthcare systems. They should also ensure that their IP systems are supportive of public healthcare needs. Equally important, is that TRIPS and the IP system should be more supportive of sub-Saharan Africa’s struggle to bear its disease burden, rather than focusing narrowly on profit maximisation for pharmaceutical companies. Sub-Saharan Africa also needs increased international financing, private-public collaboration in research, and the sharing of benefits in order to cater effectively for the health needs of its citizens.Key words: Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (trips), essential medicines, sub-Saharan Africa, pharmaceutical, patents, access, malaria, human immunodeficiency virus/ acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS)

Effect of demographic variables on public attitudes towards genetically modified insulin

Earlier studies on public attitude and risk perception have concluded that the public’s attitudes towards biotechnology was primarily driven by several factors such as familiarity, perceived benefits, perceived risks, risk acceptance, moral concerns and encouragement. Demographic characteristics have been known to affect attitudes towards science. The purpose of this paper is to compare the attitude of the Malaysian public towards genetically modified (GM) insulin across several background variables such as religion, race, education level and age. A survey was carried out on 1017 respondents stratified according to various stakeholder groups in the Klang Valley region. Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) showed significant differences in the mean scores for familiarity of GM insulin across religions, races and ages but not across education levels and gender. Both perceived benefits and perceived risks were found to differ across races, education levels and gender but not across religions and ages. On the other hand, moral concern was found to differ in all four background variables except gender while risk acceptance differed across races and gender and encouragement only differed across education  levels. In conclusion, background variables do have a significant effect on some of the dimensions of Malaysians’ attitudes towards modern biotechnology. The research findings will be useful for understanding the effect of background variables on public attitudes towards the application of gene technology in medicine. More in-depth empirical studies should be carried out to understand the underlying causes behind the differences.Key words: Attitude, gene technology, medicine, GM (genetically modified) insulin, background variables, Malaysia

Risks and benefits of genetically modified foods

There are claims that fear towards new technology has been caused by the lack of information and education on the subject to the public. Modern biotechnology and its applications have been receiving the same criticism. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze the trends and coverage of genetically modified food (GMF) related issues available in an online database. In order to achieve this, GMFrelated articles (n = 60) were retrieved from a database, Science Direct, from the year 2005 until 2010. These articles were then analyzed using the annotated bibliography and content analysis techniques. It was found that the highest number of articles was in the ’Technical/Progress’ theme with 22 counts followed by the ‘Attitude’ theme with 13 counts. Meanwhile, the ‘Social Risks and/or Benefits’ theme was the lowest with only 1 paper identified. This trend shows that the focus of the majority of papers published were on the progress of GMF technology followed by attitude studies (such as perceptions and willingness to buy) and only a few were discussing the risk and benefit aspects of GMF. These findings are useful in giving us an insight of what have been discussed on GMF in the existing literature.Key words: Genetically modified food (GMF), themes, risks and benefits, content analysis, biotechnology

The need for biosafety regulation in developing countries: Benefits and controversies

Nowadays, the rapid development of biotechnology has become a main concern for a larger part of the world. It has become one of the most promising fields which guarantee returns to businesses and offers benefits to the society. When dealing with biotechnology, the first issue that comes to mind is the safeness of the technology from tip to toe, that is, the safeness of the products of biotechnology, how they can be used on human beings and animal, and their effects on the environment. The objective of this paper is to assess the needs and adequacy of the regulation in developing countries compared to the developed countries. In order to address these concerns, governments have adopted appropriate regulations to ensure the safety of the biotechnology products, and to protect not just human but the environment universally. This paper will discuss those regulations, especially as adopted by developing countries along with their implications. It is hoped that the paper will recover the lack of the regulations in relation to developed country.Key words: Biotechnology, biosafety, developing countries, benefits, risks and controversies