Pubdate: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 Source: Reuters (Wire) Copyright: 2001 Reuters Limited Author: Andrei Khalip BRAZIL'S INDIANS TAKE PATH TOWARD MEDICINAL PATENTS RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - The poison on an arrow that paralyzes a wild beast in the jungle and a pill that can relax our tense muscles have something in common -- they both come from the curare plant discovered by Brazilian Indians. Now, the indigenous people of Brazil want this type of link between primitive hunting trick and modern pharmaceutical technology to be recognized as a property right that could bring much-needed cash to needy tribes, some of them on the brink of extinction. In their crusade, Brazilian officials and Indian representatives this week will take a declaration from a convention of Indian spiritual leaders and witch doctors to the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization meeting in Geneva. "There is no law defending indigenous traditions and all the models are for the ideas and science of the white man," said Marcos Terena, chief coordinator of Indian rights program with the government's Funai Indian protection agency. "We are also trying to prevent piracy in genetic resources, in biodiversity on our lands," said Terena, who comes from Terena tribe in the Pantanal region in central western Brazil. Latin America's largest country accounts for about a half of the planet's wild and plant life, which is concentrated in the Amazon rain forest region, home to many Indian tribes. The government's National Institute for Industrial Property (INPI) that handles patents and trademarks in Brazil sponsored a meeting on the issue in the northeastern city of Sao Luis, capital of Maranhao state, in early December. Twenty-three witch doctors and shamans, wearing feathers and leaf-skirts, represented various regions of Brazil, stretching form the hilly south with moderate climate to the Amazon rain forest and to the arid northeast. Among the tribes represented were the Quajajara, Xavante, Warairo and Crao. "They have the knowledge, and our aim is to protect their knowledge as intellectual property ... it's a national priority," said Jose Graca Aranha, INPI president. Emboldened By AIDS Drugs Victory Brazil, Graca Aranha said, was one of the first countries to raise the issue of copyright for traditional knowledge and is the only one taking concrete proposals to Geneva. "Many big pharmaceutical and other companies are using it to make money, with no benefits whatsoever for the indigenous community," Graca Aranha said. He explained that patents normally cover more advanced stages of scientific research, while the basics such as curare qualities discovered by Indians or contraceptive properties of rupulumini plant, are taken for granted. Indians are inspired by Brazil's success in brokering this year's World Trade Organization deal on patents that will give poor countries better access to discounts on AIDS drugs. They hope their case will gain more weight now. Indians make clear they are not against progress and science. "We are happy that our knowledge helps to create new medicinal and alimentary formulas, but we have to get some credit and economic access to the results," Terena said. The letter signed by witch doctors and shamans, and bearing fingerprints as some of them cannot write in Portuguese, contains mainly recommendations to local and international authorities, but on some points the Indians are quite firm. "As indigenous representatives, we affirm our opposition to any forms of patents related to the usage of traditional knowledge and we request the creation of punitive mechanisms to block the pillaging of our biodiversity," the letter says. The long-standing Indian demand of reservation border demarcations is also included in the missive. Indians insist that their millenary knowledge had allowed to preserve some forests in their primordial state and that the tribes had to stay put on their lands for the flora and fauna to live. The Brazilian government says it is committed to setting aside Indian lands, but this can entail appropriating territory from farmers which can cause delays and even armed conflicts. Guarding The Guarana Brazil's 220 indigenous tribes account for less than one percent of the 170 million population. Many live in jungle or remote regions after being pushed inland by Portuguese explorers 500 years ago. Illegal logging, as well as gold and diamond rushes in some regions have evicted and even wiped out some tribes. The organizers of last week's event hope that the U.N. body, which groups representatives of 160 countries, would hammer out a treaty regulating the usage of traditional knowledge in such fields as herbal medicine and foods. They also want to put their representatives on the United Nation's intellectual property committee, on the World Trade Organization and other international bodies. The letter asks for the swiftest approval of a five-year-old U.N. declaration of Indian rights. Indians stress that the nature of relationships between them is based on collective principles. "Unlike the way the white man acts, proceeds from any rights would benefit not just the guardian of traditions, but all the people," Terena said, adding that Indian lawyers would be monitoring the implementation of any future regulations. He said it was high time that regulations be set up as some tribes were losing their traditional knowledge. "Our witch doctors fear that those who they pass their knowledge to will not be able to guard it and will sell it, so many traditions are dying with them." As an example of great benefits that Indians could have enjoyed if they had a patent, Terena recalled Amazon Guarana plant, which has a tonic effect and is the base for a top-selling beverage in Brazil. "If only we could have this patent!" Terena exclaims, noting that Indians would still fight for this copyright. The Crao tribe still preserves the method of cultivation of ecologically pure potatoes and corn with extra nutritional value, which they are willing to share on a copyright basis. But one drug that Indians say do not want to cash in on is the white powder derived from the coca leaf. "The use of our medicinal plant has been corrupted," Terena said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth