India "Needs Law To Stop US Bio-Piracy"

An Indian newspaper has urged the New Delhi government to enactimmediately stringent legislation making "bio-piracy" an offense.

The National Herald says the developed nations, and particularly the USA, "have been thieving away our resource-rich biodiversity for decades now. It is said that the gene-bank in the USA has stored almost 90% of genes of our plant and animal resources." 90% of plant species have already been patented by outside agencies "without least assertion of ownership rights by the Indian states," it adds.

This "looting" must be stopped by stringent legislation as soon as possible, the Herald says, adding: "this is what the USA does not want. In order to put pressure on India not to enact such a law, the US government has been bullying (India) to accept the unequal intellectual property rights treaty."