GRGR(14)-Geen Drugs

[David Morris]

>From the Vaults of Erowid Newslatter:
http://www.erowid.org/

U.S. Cancels Patent on Sacred Ayahuasca Plant
Environmental News Service
November 5, 1999

WASHINGTON, DC, November 5, 1999 (ENS) - Indigenous peoples from nine South 
American countries won a precedent-setting victory Thursday, as the U.S. 
Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) canceled the patent issued to a U.S. 
citizen for the ayahuasca vine.

The plant, Banisteriopsis caapi, is native to the Amazonian rainforest. 
Thousands of indigenous people of the region use it in sacred religious and 
healing ceremonies, as part of their traditional religions.

The PTO's decision came in response to a request for re-examination of the 
patent filed with the PTO in March by the Coordinating Body for the 
Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), the Amazon Alliance 
for Indigenous and Traditional Peoples, and lawyers at the Center for 
International Environmental Law (CIEL).

"Our Shamans and Elders were greatly troubled by this patent. Now they are 
celebrating. This is an historic day for indigenous peoples everywhere," 
says Antonio Jacanamijoy, general coordinator of COICA.

Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi)
(Photo courtesy Ayahuasca Home Page)

According to David Rothschild, director of the Amazon Alliance, "Ayahuasca 
is used in sacred indigenous ceremonies throughout the Amazon. This patent 
never should have been issued in the first place."

The PTO based its rejection of the patent on the fact that publications 
describing Banisteriopsis caapi were "known and available" prior to the 
filing of the patent application. According to U.S. patent law, no invention 
can be patented if described in printed publications more than one year 
prior to the date of the patent application.

William Anderson, director of the University of Michigan Herbarium, said 
that the PTO needs to improve its procedures for researching applications.

CIEL lawyer David Downes said, "While we are pleased that the PTO has 
cancelled this flawed patent, we are concerned that the PTO still has not 
dealt with the flaws in its policies that made it possible for someone to 
patent this plant in the first place." He explained that "the PTO needs to 
change its rules to prevent future patent claims based on the traditional 
knowledge and use of a plant by indigenous peoples."

He also argued that "the PTO should face the issue head-on of whether it is 
ethical for patent applicants to claim private rights over a plant or 
knowledge that is sacred to a cultural or ethnic group."

In a separate proceeding at the PTO, the three groups have called for 
changes in PTO rules. They argue that the PTO should require that patent 
applicants identify all biological resources and traditional knowledge that 
they used in developing the claimed invention. Applicants should also 
disclose the geographical origin, and provide evidence that the source 
country and indigenous community consented to its use.


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