----- forwarded message ----- Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 14:55:55 -0800 From: radtimes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Bio-pirates stalk Borneo tribes treasure trove
Bio-pirates stalk Borneo tribes'treasure trove From: Debra Harry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> story lead from Victor Rocha...thanks! www.pechanga.net FEATURE-Bio-pirates stalk Borneo tribes' treasure trove By Patrick Chalmers http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010904/3/1e3cb.html NIAH, Malaysia, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Abang Anak Raba never went to medical school. He never even went to school. But what he knows about Sarawak's plants could be a worth a fortune to Western drugs firms. Walking in hot, humid forest near his Iban longhouse south of Niah, Abang stops often to slice off tree bark or pick a leaf, detailing native cures for high blood pressure, diarrhea and childhood bed-wetting with the nonchalance of a family doctor. "If you were sick in the jungle in the old days, there was no hospital, no clinic, only the traditional ways," said the 70-year-old father of four, whose longhouse lies 440 km (270 miles) northeast of Kuching, capital of Malaysia's Sarawak state on Borneo island. "During those times, I actually liked to follow the old people. That's why when I was sick and in pain, I knew which medicine was for what," he said, his leathery features crinkling at the memory. Widespread attention to Sarawak's bintangor tree, a derivative of which has been used to prepare an anti-HIV/AIDS treatment undergoing U.S. clinical trials, has prompted non-governmental organisations to sound the alarm. Mark Bujang of the Borneo Resources Institute says the East Malaysian state's natives are in danger of having their indigenous savvy ripped off by so-called "bio-pirates". "It's not easy for the people to understand all this. The concept of bio-piracy is very vague to them," he said. NATIVE LORE FREELY GIVEN "For local people, the resources are shared among them. If you want a medicine, then it's freely given." He says his institute wants Sarawak's multitude of native groups to share in the benefits of any treatments born from what they have known for generations. Eileen Yen Ee Lee, assistant CEO of the state-led Sarawak Biodiversity Centre, accepts the concerns but adds they may be premature given patchy records of local knowledge. She points to a 1998 law passed by the richly rain-forested state requiring permits to collect or export plant and animal specimens on pain of fines or imprisonment. An SBC brochure mentions Sarawak's more than 8,000 types of flowering plants, 2,000 vertebrates and 10,000 invertebrates in 12.3 million hectares (30 million acres) of land. On the coast, mangrove swamps are busy with crustaceans, plants and insects. Inland, rich rainforests harbour orangutans, giant rafflesia flowers and the malachite green and black Rajah Brooke's Birdwing butterfly. More important now, Lee said, was writing down just what was known before those who know it have died. In her experience of visiting Sarawak longhouse communities, young people might identify 10 to 20 trees while their parents' generation often named several hundred. Knowledge not only of plants and animals but also their medicinal uses was disappearing fast. "We are looking at the very beginning of a big job." The SBC has begun its own pilot project to log medical knowledge among the Bidayuh Dayaks whose land surrounds its new offices, 12 miles (20 km) outside the state capital Kuching. Findings will help Malaysia's efforts to implement the International Convention of Biological Diversity, a pact requiring countries to ensure fair sharing of benefits derived from research and development of genetic resources. Lee said local populations who chose to record what they knew would be free to keep the data to themselves while boosting their case for any financial or other rewards in the future. "You have a chip to negotiate. That's about it. The immediate benefit is that you have something to pass to the next generations." Robert Stuebing, research associate at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, has long researched the wildlife in Borneo's rainforests. "DON'T RUB YOUR EYES" The biologist recalls his own experiences in rainforest species classification, the science of taxonomy, with tales of the bright green, poisonous rock or Rana Hosie frog. "If you are collecting frogs for a taxonomic survey, you quickly find that unless you put them in separate bags, you'll end up with a lot of dead frogs, except one. "And you learn that you don't rub your eyes." He said any one of these animals' various attack and defence mechanisms, be they snake venom or the poisonous skin of an amphibian, might yet yield clues to future medicinal products. But Stuebing added that biologists, himself included, had been guilty of getting carried away in their claims for rainforests' billion-dollar biotechnology harvest. That had meant overblown expectations of wealth and a threat to basic research as people retained data they thought might make them millionaires. "It turned out to be kind of a red herring, not nearly as big a thing as they had everyone believe. "We're still hearing about the bintangor tree but we are not hearing about the cure." Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism Tel: 001 (775) 835-6932 PO Box 818 Fax: 001 (775) 835-6934 Wadsworth, NV 89442 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] USA Website: www.ipcb.org
