[Pirateninfo] Bio-Pirates of the Antarctic

[pcl at jpberlin.de]

ZNet | Global Economics	
Bio-Pirates of the Antarctic	
by Stephen Leahy; InterPress Service; February 03, 2004 	
BROOKLIN, Canada, (IPS) - Antarctic bio-prospectors are acting like
bio-pirates, plundering the continent's biological treasures before 
global measures to control its biodiversity can be put in place, 
experts warn in a United Nations University report released Monday. 
"Bio-piracy is happening. But the piracy isn't illegal because 
they're not stealing it from anyone, since no one owns it," says Sam 
Johnston of the U.N. University's Institute of Advanced Studies. Gaps 
in the existing Antarctic Treaty System now allow organisms to be 
taken, patented and commercialised, report co-author Johnston told 
IPS. 

The Antarctic Treaty was established in 1961 to protect the continent 
from uncontrolled commercial exploitation from activities such as 
mining, militarisation or direct ownership by countries. Thirty-nine 
nations, representing over 80 per cent of the world's population, are 
signatories, including the United Kingdom, United States and Russia. 
A number of other treaties now comprise the Antarctic Treaty System 
(ATS). While commercial activities like mining and tourism are banned 
or carefully regulated, there is nothing to stop "bio-prospecting" 
for potentially lucrative organisms. Scientific expeditions to 
collect organisms are strictly regulated under the ATS, which 
includes strong measures to protect the delicate Antarctic ecosystem. 
And there is a long tradition of cooperation between scientists, 
which includes making all research public. The Antarctic is unique in 
the world in that it is not owned by any country, Johnston observes. 
"It's like the moon and Mars." 'Patents and commercialisation could 
change all that," he warns. "Profit-making is completely alien to the 
ATS," says Josh Stevens, of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean 
Coalition (ASOC), a group made up of nearly 230 NGOs from
49 countries that have flagged a trend towards increased 
commercialisation of science and other activities in the region. "Bio-
prospecting could bring down the whole house of cards," Stevens told 
IPS. The region contains many unique species of "extremophiles", 
creatures adapted to the extreme conditions there, says the U.N. 
University's report, 'The International Regime For Bio-prospecting: 
Existing Policies And Emerging Issues For Antarctica'. Biotechnology 
companies in particular are scouring the area in hopes of finding 
organisms that will be the basis for new drugs, industrial compounds 
and other commercial applications, it says. Already, some 92 patents 
referring to Antarctic organisms or to molecules extracted from them 
have been filed in the United States, and a further 62 in Europe. 
Enzymes extracted from extremophiles in other regions have
become multi-million-dollar products in laundry detergents. Another 
enzyme is the basis of the 300-million-dollar medical diagnosis and 
forensics industry. The market for biotechnology enzymes derived from 
extremophiles is forecast to grow 15¡20 percent a year, growth that 
is part of a larger trend, says the report. Annual sales derived from 
traditional knowledge using genetic resources are three billion 
dollars for the cosmetic and personal care industry, 20 billion 
dollars for the botanical medicine sector and 75 billion dollars for 
the pharmaceutical industry. Sixty two per cent of cancer drugs 
approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are of 
natural origin or modelled on natural products, adds the report. For 
those reasons, companies are buying or purchasing licences to
complete collections of biological materials from various past 
Antarctic expeditions.. And because research in the coldest, harshest 
region on the planet is extremely expensive, pharmaceutical companies 
find many scientists and institutions willing to sign over commercial 
licensing rights in exchange for funding. A contract signed in 1995 
between the University of Tasmania and Amrad Natural Products, an 
Australian company, gives Amrad the right to analyse Antarctic 
microbes to see if they could be used to develop new antibiotics or 
other pharmaceutical products. European food giant Unilever has 
patented a protein taken from bacteria found in Antarctic lake 
sediments that could stop ice crystals building up in ice cream. 
Should that protein become a billion-dollar product, it would create 
a nightmare scenario for the treaty system, says Stevens. "There's no 
way the ATS could withstand a commercial onslaught." The system was 
specifically designed to exclude or restrict all commercial ventures, 
so that countries like Argentina and Britain would put aside any
claims to Antarctic territory. The system is widely considered the 
model of international cooperation. Treaties governing the deep sea 
floor, the moon and Mars, which will go into force in 2006, are all 
based on the ATS. 

Johnston and Stevens agree that regulations are needed to control
Antarctic bio-prospecting. These rules would have to be carefully
considered so that revenues and research information is shared 
amongst all treaty members without stifling commercial activities, 
according to the U.N. report. But Stevens thinks bio-prospecting 
should never be commercialised in the Antarctic. "How do you share 
the profits among the members?" he asks. "It hasn't been possible to 
set up a system to share revenues for fishing in the region. Bio-
prospecting would be even more difficult." He says companies are 
welcome to look for the next important drug in Antarctic species, but 
that research cannot be proprietary. "It should be shared with the 
world," Stevens says. ***** 
+UN University Report 
(http://www.ias.unu.edu/binaries/UNUIAS_AntarcticaReport.pdf)
+Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (http://www.asoc.org/