March 19, 2003 – A new website hopes to protect the knowledge of traditional healers from the greed of modern drug companies.
The managers of the Tekpad site1 claim that for hundreds of years, pharmaceutical companies have harnessed the knowledge of the planet’s shamans to enrich themselves, developing remedies from plants whose healing properties have been passed down by word of mouth through generations .
More often than not, they say, drug companies then patent their “discovery” without paying a single penny to healers. This practice is called “bio-piracy” (bio-piracy). Scalded, healers would be more and more hesitant to share their knowledge with modern scientists, which deprives the majority of humanity of precious knowledge.
The mission of the Tekpad site is to compile an exhaustive list of traditional remedies that are already in the public domain. In this way, before issuing a new patent, the authorities will be able to come and check whether it is indeed a new product or rather a derivative substance.
Tekpad officials are hopeful that healers will use the site to disseminate their knowledge and thereby gain some (moral, at least) ownership over the substance in question.
Jean-Benoit Legault – PasseportSanté.net
According to BBC, March 19, 2003.
1. Link to the Tekpad site: ip.aaas.org/tekindex.nsf.