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Biodiversity watchdog
Addressing the ethics behind bioprospecting
Story by Jodi Di Menna

Dr. Iain Taylor has refocused his sights from 30 years of researching biophysics to now studying science ethics.

CG: In a nutshell, what are the ethical issues that arise from the practice of bioprospecting for commercially valuable drugs?

Taylor: Do the prospectors have rights to exploit information provided by aboriginal and other traditional users of plants with known medicinal value? Should the individual prospectors, their institutions and countries be required to share financial gain made from the medicinal use? Should patents be allowed on plants from which medicines are extracted and refined?

CG: Who stands to benefit from the bioprospecting enterprise?

Taylor: The reality is that big Pharma stands to benefit. The claimed benefits for the local knowledge holders or users have rarely if ever occurred.

CG: Who stands to lose?

Taylor: The big loser is the local community. Benefits rarely if ever flow back to the local community. Even if payments were made to the countries of origin, there is little or no evidence that benefits would flow to the local community other than in the form that makes central governments look good and gives them more control over what they think of as ’the primitives.’ There may well be benefits to the local community that are accidental to the bioprospecting enterprise. Endemic diseases and malnutrition have often been addressed, but sadly the motive has too often been to gain the trust of the locals so that they will share their knowledge that can then be exploited and patented. The industry loses interest almost as soon as it has the knowledge needed to bring the plant and its products into the lab and obtain the patents.

CG: Is the culture of the local communities threatened?

Taylor: The invasion of cultures by western science and its applications so far has always led to a change in medical attitude and expectations from treatments to ’silver bullet’ cures. Also, it has too often led to discrediting of the local healers and even witch-doctors. The patronizing view that ’our science’ is much more useful than ’your superstition’ soon pervades, and the receptive members in the local community are portrayed as being modern and therefore better than the tradition. This splits the Culture and the good as well as the bad are eventually eroded.

CG: What’s the impact of bioprospecting on the local environment?

Taylor: Environmentally, bioprospecting seems always to lead to farming and then in the worst case scenarios to restrictions on use by the original knowledge holders. In other cases, the replacement of wild strains leads to loss of local plant husbandry, ecological displacement and potentially to loss of biodiversity.

CG: How can local communities minimize their loss?

Taylor: How to minimize loss is the big question. It requires a massive cultural change by western science. The biggest exploiters of traditional knowledge are scattered throughout the western science and industry culture.

CG: Does the third world have cause to be skeptical of bioprospecting?

Taylor: "Cause to be totally distrustful" would be more accurate than skeptical. It is hard for the west to understand that third world countries have their own cultures, but many of their governments are effectively bribed by big-money aid to make their resources available or risk reduction in aid that they receive.

CG: Do Canadians need to be concerned about these issues?

Taylor: Yes Canadians should be concerned because our First Nations have a strong history of local plant use and when big Pharma has come calling, the universities have been more than willing to argue that academic freedom requires publication and university funding requires pursuit of patents.

CG: How significant is the subject of bioprospecting in the world of science ethics today?

Taylor: It’s not a big issue outside the ethnobotanical community. The reason is probably that the argument of ’science for the good of humanity’ still holds great sway. Generally, most ethicists who are interested seem more concerned about addressing questions that make it easier for science to work with a cleared conscience. Even the 3rd world ethics community seems to be thinking in terms of bioprospecting as a means of providing western-style material benefit to the local ’primitives.’

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