The ministry in charge of intellectual property (IEPI) is preparing a bill that would protect traditional plant knowledge used by Ecuadorian tribes like the tsachilas and the shuar. They are also training the tribespeople to be aware of their ownership over their traditions, to help protect against “biopiracy”: the appropriation by corporations of indigenous knowledge without permission. This biological knowledge is then used for commercial purposes, such as the development of pharmaceuticals.

April 26 is Intellectual Property Day, established in 1970.

Lilian Carrera, the director of this division of the IEPI, says they have carried out consultations about the bill and are working on a review of the existing laws that could be relevant to the idea of protecting traditional plant knowledge.

“When researchers arrive and show an interest in the genetic material related to traditional medicine, and want to remove samples, indigenous communities can set the conditions,” Carrera says.

The biodiversity convention establishes that a mutual agreement must be reached before access to resources is granted. The indigenous people must give their consent, and a fair and just remuneration must be decided for the community.

The bill would hope to avoid another case like what happened in the 1970s when epibatidine was discovered. Epibatidine is an alkaloid found on the skin of the endangered Ecuadorian poison dart frog, Epipedobates tricolor. Epibatidine is a potent non-opioid analgesic.

“Two U.S. investigators took samples of this poisonous Andes frog, and discovered the pharmaceutical applications of this compound, which has 200 times the potency of morphine,” said Santiago Ron, a biologist at the Universidad Católica’s zoology museum.

Ron and Carrera say there’s no effective way to control or avoid the removal of genetic samples from the country, even though there is currently a permit process managed by the Ministry of the Environment.

“It’s very hard to control this at the airports. One could go to the Yasuní national park and collect samples that are so small yet contain the full genome of a plant, and these are easy to remove from the country.”

Carrera suggests a similar process for what happens at the Galapagos Islands: everything that goes out and comes in is carefully monitored.

She said the bill will be ready to be presented some time during the new session of the assembly, which begins May 14.

Original story