NGO seminar urges campaign against 'unfair' biopiracy

NGO seminar urges campaign against 'unfair' biopiracy

JAKARTA (JP): Activists urged on Saturday a further delay of
the enforcement of trade related aspects of intellectual property
rights, which should have begun in January.

In a workshop on the piracy of biological resources, or
biopiracy, activists asserted that the interests of local
communities, who are said to own these resources, had yet to be
protected by law.

The House of Representatives will hold a hearing on Monday
with the government about a draft on patent regulation.

"People aren't ready to use patents, and developed countries
are abusing this for their own interests," said Tini Hadad, an
executive board member of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation.

In view of this Tini said the enforcement of the Agreement on
Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
here should be delayed.

Indonesia signed the agreement at the World Trade Organization
(WTO) conference in Morocco in 1994.

It was ratified in Law No. 13/1997. However, the law is to be
reviewed to better meet WTO standarda, thus delaying the agreed
time of enforcement, which was set for January 2000.

Riza Tjahjadi, who chairs the Pesticide Action Network in
Indonesia, said the hearing was believed to be in anticipation of
the review on TRIPS by WTO next June.

State Minister of Environment Sonny Keraf, who addressed the
workshop, described biopiracy as a new form of imperialism noting
that developed states benefited from developing countries' slow
anticipation of patents.

"It's ridiculous if we have to pay to use herbs growing in our
land which we've used since ancient times," Sonny said.

The minister said a patent is an acknowledgment of
intellectual rights, but added it was not fair to patent
biological diversity.

Riza said Shiseido, a well-known Japanese cosmetic firm, had
quietly patented several local traditional formulas of herbs and
spices.

Among the formulas patented by Shiseido were antiaging agents
made from Sambiloto (Andrographis panicurata) and Kemukus (Piper
cubeba), and hair tonic from Javanese chili, Riza said. (08)