There's treasure to be found in primeval forests, like plants with healing powers. Some industry giants have been laying their hands on them to create their own remedies...

A-Z: B for Biopiracy

The doctor has prescribed a nice remedy.  Let's see if it helps.

Half the remedies that we use in Europe  are full of natural goodness.

They benefit from resources belonging  to developing countries. Let me explain.

There are treasures  in the primeval forests of South America

and in the great plains of Asia and Africa.

They're plants  with special curative properties.

The local populations  know about these benefits.

They pass the secrets  from generation to generation.

But some industry giants have taken  an interest in the plants and their secrets,

to the extent of grabbing them  for their business. It's called biopiracy.

In reality it's the looting  or appropriation by multinationals

in the cosmetic, food-processing  or pharmaceutical industries

of the knowledge of indigenous peoples  or small farmers.

Patents are taken out so they can  no longer use their knowledge.

For example, the Larry Proctor case.  You may not have heard of it.

In the 1990s, an American company took  a bag of Mexican beans back to the US.

It improved the seeds  to give the bean a nice yellow colour.

It patented its invention  with the aim of owning the bean

so people could no longer  sell or import them without paying duty.

Very good business for Proctor,  but not for the Mexicans.

The Mexican farmers who had grown  and exported the beans for centuries

found themselves having to pay  royalties to Mr Proctor

It's a real threat to food sovereignty  all over the world.

Fortunately the patent  was cancelled five years ago.

More and more industries  are inventing products,

either based on biological resources,  like plants, animals or microbes,

or based on small elements  of biological resources,

To become the owner of their invention  they register a patent.

That way they're the only ones  who can market it.

A lot of products in beauty, pharmacy,  food-processing and agriculture

already draw on natural resources  which belong to everyone.

We're very keen on patents in the EU and  protecting international property rights.

This is about making sure that  when there is intellectual property

in developing countries of enormous  value to everybody in the world,

the people who possess that  don't find that it's taken away

and other people are making  a lot of money out of it.

So to limit this looting, new European  rules should force industries

to show the origin of the ingredients  in their products,

How far can you go  in patenting biological resources?

In the Parliament and in many countries  the debate is under way.

In Europe the agricultural industries  take out patents on lots of seeds.

As a result, farmers are no longer allowed  to plant certain varieties from their region

or else they'll be fined.  That's not fair. Bye!