Cuetlaxochitl: The story of America’s Christmas Eve shrub has lessons for free trade, and patents

Subject: Environment

Context:

Poinsettia can be an example of intellectual property rights or biopiracy; it depends on whose interests one wants to nourish and protect: the breeder’s or the cultivator’

Poinsettia:

The shrub, known for its showy red bracts or modified leaves, is native to Mexico and was used by the Aztecs for dyeing their garments and as an antipyretic medicine.
Named after the Mexican Botanist and first ambassador to USA Joel Poinsett.

International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants or UPOV:

A treaty was created outside the UN to provide a regulatory system for protecting plants.
It was first passed in 1961, the treaty has been revised thrice, the last being in 1991 when the most stringent regulations were added.
Members joining UPOV have to enact a compatible national law.
So far, just 76 members have signed and many of these did so because of pressure when signing bilateral trade agreements with the EU, US, Japan and the European Free Trade Association.
India has refused to join UPOV since it denies farmers any rights, such as the freedom to reuse farm-saved seeds and to exchange them with their neighbours.
India enacted its own Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act of 2001 (PPV&FRA), which balances the interests of both while encouraging innovation in new varieties.

What is biopiracy?

Biopiracy also known as scientific colonialism is defined as the unauthorized appropriation of knowledge and genetic resources of farming and indigenous communities by individuals or institutions seeking exclusive monopoly control through patents or intellectual property.
While bioprospecting is the act of exploring natural resources for undiscovered chemical compounds with medicinal or anti-microbial properties, commercial success from bioprospecting leads to the company’s attempt at protecting their intellectual property rights on indigenous medicinal plants, seeds, genetic resources, and traditional medicines.
Bioprospecting facilitates biopiracy as It identifies biological resources and traditional knowledge with potential for commercial use and biopiracy appropriates them without obtaining prior informed consent (PIC) or providing adequate compensation.