The mad scramble for patenting the magic malaria antidote is seemingly resulting in dishonesty and plagiarism, while Onges, the actual knowledge providers, wait and watch, helplessly
THE wonder herb from the Little
Andamans - home to the Onge fribals
found to be a sure-fire antidote to the
deadly malarial parasite Plasmodium
falciparum, remains in zthe eye of the
storm (Down To, Earth" Vol 4i No 16)
'And the imbroglio continues even as
state governments in various parts of
the country desperately look out for
ways to, combat the ever-growing
malaria menace.
The -Indian, Council- of Medical'
Research Centre, (ICMRC) is defending
the director of its regional, branch
at Port Blair, S C Sehgal, who has
been accused by the environmentalist
lobby of trying to claim a patent on the
drugs developed from the herb's extract
in his name - thereby depriving the.
Onges, the actual providers of the
knowledge.
In late 1995, D Chattopadhya, a
scientist 'with the Regional Medical
Research Centre (PmAc), a subsidiary
body of the 1CMR at Port BlaiA@ discovered this plant while working at the
Onge settlement. He was intrigued by a
particular property of the herb which is
fairly commonly used by the Onges for
medicinal purposes: the extract from
the herb made the users resistant to
malaria.
Chattopadhya published his findings in the icMR journal. His director,
however, sent a draft patent application
to the 1CMR headquarters in New Delhi,
with his name heading the list of two
scientists who were the inventors of the
anti-bacterial properties of the plant.
Chattopadhya's.name appeared as one
of them, but no mention whatsoever
was made of the contribution made by
the Onges.
When local green campaigners,
headed by the Society for Andaman &
Nicobar Ecology (SANE), got wind of it,
they were determined to take the
battle to the mainland to assert the
rights of the Onges. Environmental
activists in the capital were alerted
and the isssue featured prominently
in the press. At the initiative of
some supporters, a letter was dashed off
to the director general of the 1CMR,
requesting her to look into the issue to
ensure, that Chattopadhya, who from
the outset disfavoured the patent, was
not victimised',by, his@ senior-, and ' of
course, to see that justice was meted out
to the Onges.
in response to, this, Lalit
Kant, deputy director general of
the ICMR,,has assured that his
organisation is "aware that the
issue of Intellectual Property
Right of patenting plants and
their products for their medicinal properties calls for careful
consideration". But in this particular case there is no cause for
alarm as the studies are in a very
preliminary stage, and
nowhere near the phase of
patenting", says Kant.
The pro-Onge campaigners
are faffrom happy. "If this is
true, then why did Sehgal prepare the draft patent application?" asks Samir Acharya of
SANE, who has been managing
the ftont tanks of the protesting
environmentalists. He is also
>@ convinced that Sehgal was, in
faci, following a well thought out strategy. Chattopadhya's abstract for the 1CMR
journal included his name along with B
K Sinha's, another scientist who worked
in the same field. But when it was placed
before Seligal, he allegedly struck off
Sinha's name and pushed his own on top.
As scientists, bureaucrats and
activists fight out their turf wars, the
real issue remains, puresolved. The
Convention on Biologic ,A Diversity
entrus@ts the responsibility of ensuring
adequate, recognition and reward. to
the Onges, to the national government.
Acharya said threateningly, "We do
not wish. to take the. tortuous path of
taking@ the issue to the media or
even Parliament. But we would not shy
of such alpath,i,f wehlave to prove our
allegations."
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