Fujifilm Corporation patents Kothala Himbutu - truth or fallacy?
Ravi Corea
I read with interest the articles in the Daily
News that the Fujifilm Corporation has procured the patent for a
valuable medicinal compound obtained from a native plant Kothala Himbutu
(Salacia reticulata), and also the subsequent article about a national
task force that is being formed by Science and Technology Minister. Prof
Tissa Vitarana to recommend measures to safeguard indigenous
biodiversity and knowledge.
More focus should be on research |
Patenting of products derived from indigenous and endemic resources
by foreign countries is a serious threat and an issue, and it is a
concern that the authorities of our country should be aware of and take
steps to counter. On other hand making baseless allegations or creating
issues without first making sure of the facts is also a cause for
concern since it brings discredit to the country, especially on the
Government and scientific community.
The patent is for a method for preparing emulsion or dispersion, and
foodstuff, skin externals and medicaments containing emulsion or
dispersion obtained by the method. The inventors are listed as Jun
Arakawa, Hisahiro Mori and Tomohide Ueyama and the Fujifilm Corporation
has been listed as the Assignees and the patent has originated in
Alexandria, Virginia, USA.
The plant in question, Kothala Himbutu (Salacia reticulata) is listed
along with another 129 other plant species as potential sources of
natural compounds that can be used to create emulsions and dispersions
using the method that has been patented by the Fujifilm Corporation.
What is interesting is that the list contains many common plants
including plants such as fennel, turmeric, barley, okra, oat, cranberry,
grapefruit, mulberry, coffee, rice, wheat, pomegranate, jasmine, ginger,
soybean, tamarind, onion, tomato, carrot, date, garlic, parsley,
paprika, rose, grape, blueberry, spinach, macadamia nuts, mandarin
orange, apple, lychee, lemon and rosemary. If we are to go by what has
been claimed then we should be extremely concerned since we will have to
pay patent rights to use these plants too! In addition they also list
over 22 species of algae and over 14 species of yeast.
Kothala Himbutu, a medicinal plant |
Basically the plants, algae and yeastgoing by the patent application
are listed to point out the various ingredients that can be extracted
from these natural materials to create emulsions and dispersions using
the method they have patented. As typical examples of lipid ingredients
contained in these plants the patent cites enumerated fatty acids,
glycerides, complex lipids, terpenoids, steroids, and prostaglandins as
some of them. Nowhere in the patent application is there any proprietary
claim on Kothala Himbutu or any ingredient derived from it or from the
other plants, algae and yeast.
Kothala Himbutu (Salacia reticulata) is also found in India and
secondly a simple Internet search showed that there are close to 22
Indian suppliers who export Kothala Himbutu worldwide. This is
considering there were only one supplier in Japan and one supplier in
Sri Lanka. The eight patents Fujifilm Corporation has supposedly filed
for Salacia are for eight methods of preparing emulsions using their
methods and nowhere do they claim in those preparation processes that
Salacia is an ingredient and they are patenting it, unless of course
there is another patent application not in the public domain that does
so.
Bio-piracy is a threat we should be aware of and have measures in
place to combat. The more important lesson that can be learned from this
issue is that other countries are investing heavily on research using
natural ingredients and why we are not? If we are smart then we should
try to emulate these efforts since very little similar research has been
conducted by Sri Lankan scientists or scientific institutions on our
natural resources. The biggest question again is why? Sri Lanka has
scientists and science practitioners in its scientific community who
have brought incredible credit to the country and have earned the
respect and commendations of the international community and continue to
do so.
The reality is they face many challenges when it comes to conducting
research either in the laboratory or in the field in Sri Lanka. The
biggest challenge is the incredible stubbornness and obstinacy in many
Government institutions to support and encourage research and the lack
of Government and institutional support to conduct research.
There are Research Committees established in some Government
institutions whose only function it seems is to refuse permission for
proposals that are submitted to do research! Pedantic and archaic
legislature does not help matters either. While it is important to
establish a national task force to address the issues of bio-piracy,
indigenous biodiversity and knowledge it is as equally or more important
to address the issues such as why there is no similar research being
conducted in Sri Lanka and why there is so little Government and
institutional support to conduct basic and specific scientific research
in the country. |