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STOP BIOPIRACY
Extract of Andean Root
Crop Patented for "Natural Viagra" Properties
Indigenous peoples' and
farmers' organizations from the Andes and the Amazon gathered
at the offices of the Ecological Forum in Lima, Peru on 28
June 2002 to formally denounce US patents on maca, the
high-altitude Andean plant (of the Cruciferae [mustard]
family) that has been grown for centuries by indigenous
peoples in the Puna highlands of Peru, both as a staple food
crop and for medicinal purposes. Today, maca-based products
are commonly promoted as natural enhancers of sexual function
and fertility, and demand for maca is growing in the US,
Europe and Japan. While maca exports have the potential to
create new markets and income for Peruvian farmers, recent US
patents related to maca may actually foreclose opportunity for
the true innovators of the Andean crop.
"The Andean region is
becoming known as the 'biopiracy capital' of the world. We are
deeply offended by monopoly patents on our food crops and
medicinal plants," said Efraín Zúñiga Molina of the
Association of Maca Producers of Valle del Mantaro. "We've
seen patents on ayahuasca, quinoa, yacon, the nuña popping
bean, and now maca, " said Molina.
"These patents claim novel
inventions, but everyone knows they are based on the
traditional knowledge and resources of indigenous peoples,"
said Gladis Vila Pihue, a representative of the maca growers
association, Department of Huancavelica (Peru).
The farmers are calling on
two US companies to abandon their patents related to maca, and
they are asking the Peruvian government and the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to investigate and
condemn monopoly claims related to maca that appropriate
indigenous knowledge of farming communities. (The Geneva-based
WIPO promotes intellectual property as a means of protecting
indigenous knowledge.)
Maca Patents
-
US Patent No. 6,267,995 - Pure World Botanicals, Inc. -
Issued: July 31, 2001 - Title: Extract of Lepidium
meyenii roots for pharmaceutical applications.
Applications pending in Australia, the European Patent
Office, and at the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO).
-
US Patent No. 6,093,421 -Biotics Research Corporation -
Issued: July 25, 2000 - Title: Maca and antler for
augmenting testosterone levels.
-
Patent Application No. 878,141 - Pure World Botanicals, Inc.
- Published: April 11, 2002; Title: Compositions and methods
for their preparation from Lepidium.
The coalition is also
requesting that the Lima-based International Potato Center
(CIP), as promoter and protector of maca seed, take action to
prohibit intellectual property claims - not just on seeds and
genetic material held in its gene bank, but also on
traditional knowledge of indigenous communities. The groups
are asking CIP to declare a moratorium on the patenting of all
Andean crop germplasm and their genetic components, and
indigenous knowledge related to these genetic materials.
CIP is one of 16
international research centers under the umbrella of the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR),
the public plant breeding network responsible for safeguarding
crop genetic diversity.
"We want to send a strong message that
patenting indigenous knowledge is morally wrong and
unacceptable," said Pedro Rivera Cea, Director of the
CHIRAPAQ-RAAA (Red Alternativa de agricultura Agroecológica),
an indigenous peoples' network based in Ayacucho (Peru).
Peru's "Lost Crop" Target
of Predatory Patents
"Maca may be a forgotten
crop in the minds of foreign agronomists, but it has never
been lost to indigenous peoples of the Andes," said Alejandro
Argumedo of the Quechua-Ayamara Association for Sustainable
Livelihoods (ANDES) based in Cuzco, Peru. "Andean indigenous
communities have been using maca for food and medicinal
purposes since before the Conquest," explains Argumedo.
"Ironically, now we are in danger of losing maca - not to
extinction - but to predatory US patents. When it comes to
maca, it's obvious that indigenous farmers are the true
innovators, not chemists in New Jersey," explains Argumedo.
Argumedo is referring to a
US patent held by PureWorld Botanicals, Inc., a New
Jersey-based company that specializes in botanical extracts.
PureWorld's patent on maca extract is not recognized in Peru,
and thus does not currently prevent Peruvian people from
growing, using or selling maca extracts. However, if PureWorld
chooses to enforce its patent, the company could prevent maca
extracts of Peruvian origin from being imported to the United
States, or anywhere else the patent is recognized. PureWorld
is already seeking patent rights in Australia, the European
Patent Office, and at the World Intellectual Property
Organization.(5) In addition, the company has a second US
patent application pending on maca extract (published April
11, 2002). Another US-based company, Biotics Research
Corporation, holds a patent on maca and antler for augmenting
testosterone levels.
PureWorld Botanicals, Inc.
operates the largest botanical extraction facility in North
America. The company extracts over 15,000 pounds of crude
botanical materials every day.(6) Maca is only one of over
1,000 plant extracts produced by PureWorld, but the company is
probably the largest importer of maca in the United States.
(7) The company holds US Patent No. 6,267,995 issued on July
31, 2001, entitled "Extract of Lepidium meyenii roots for
pharmaceutical applications." The patent does not specifically
cover maca seed or genetic material, but claims the isolated
composition and the process used to make the maca extract.
PureWorld readily admits
that maca "has been used by Peruvians for centuries as an
energy and sex-enhancing botanical."(8) Its trademarked and
patented product, MacaPure, is touted as a "scientifically
proven libido and sexual function enhancer."(9)
Pure Patents? Is it New?
Useful? Non-obvious?
According to Professor
Carlos Quirós, at the University of California, Davis, the
Pure World patent describes making an alcoholic extract of
maca roots. The process and formula are standard procedures,
and the end product is not so different from the traditional
method of extraction in Peru:
"This is pretty much the
standard procedure to determine glucosinolates [by-products of
maca that could translate into desirable medical and
nutritional attributes] and isothiocyanates in crucifers and
certainly applicable to any other species containing these
compounds (see Kraling et al 1990, Plant Breeding 105:33-39).
About its 'medical' use, this type of concoction has been used
in Junin [Peru] for centuries and you can still see it today.
If you go there, you will find in the streets juice stands
where they blend the roots in water, or fruit juice for
palatability and then add their 'aguardiente', which is a
strong alcoholic liquor, plus other goodies. Although this mix
will have cellulose, since they do not remove the root
residues, I do not think that makes any difference."(10)
-Prof. Carlos Quirós, University of California, Davis
A patent granted to
Texas-based Biotics Research Corporation on July 25, 2000
claims to increase testosterone levels in men who orally
ingest powdered maca and elk antler.
Maca Mockery
Contrary to what the World
Intellectual Property Organization and others are promoting,
patent regimes are incapable of recognizing or rewarding the
traditional knowledge and informal innovations of indigenous
people. Poor farmers in the Puna highlands of Peru are not
able to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to win and defend
patents as a means of protecting their knowledge and
resources. Even if they did pursue intellectual property, US
patent laws will continue to encourage enterprises to isolate,
purify, or modify already-existing biological products and
processes to win monopoly patents on someone else's
innovation.
"Pure World Botanicals may
have done nothing illegal in the eyes of the US Patent and
Trademark Office and the company will likely claim that it has
followed the letter of the law. Nevertheless, patent claims on
maca are morally unacceptable and they make a mockery of the
idea that access and benefiting regimes such as the Andean
Community's Decision 391, or WIPO's efforts to promote
intellectual property, can be used as tools to protect
indigenous knowledge and resources," said Hope Shand, Research
Director of ETC Group.
For further information:
ETC Group: Hope Shand,
Research Director (US) tel: 919 960-5223 hope@etcgroup.org
Source of information:
Written with permission of ETC Group.(http://www.etcgroup.org)
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