Filipino scientists developing digital library to stop biopiracy

To prevent foreign researchers from pirating the health practices of indigenous communities, Filipino scientists are developing a national digital library that will contain data of the locally-developed medicines and health practices. Dr. Jaime Montoya, executive director of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) said in a health forum held last week, that the P10-million system is being developed to protect the country’s biomedical indigenous knowledge. "Through this system, we can document health practices that work and protect these [practices] from unscrupulous foreign researchers. We can then choose possible technologies that can be created in commercial form and generate income," he said. Mr. Montoya said the PCHRD has started documenting indigenous health practices all over the country and expects to finish its research and the digital library by 2010. The PCHRD is an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) that seeks to strengthen research and development studies in the Philippines. Mr. Montoya said some foreign researchers who come to study the indigenous health practices claim them as their own when they return to their countries. He cited as an example India’s turmeric plant, a member of the ginger family, which was developed in the US for a patent. The Indian government blocked the patenting as it claimed it owned the right to the compound which is used as an antiseptic in India. "We should do what India did. We have a wealth of raw materials. We just didn’t know how to maximize our potentials," he said. Mr. Montoya said that there are suspicions that the ingredient used to make the allergy drug erythromycin came from Iloilo in the 1970s, although he added that there has yet to be "formal documentation" on the claim. "Our government’s science, research, and health departments should take advantage of [our raw materials] to develop medicines that can make the country self-reliant [when it comes to] life-enhancing drugs." The Department of Health is promoting 10 medicinal plants that are already available in commercial preparations. These are lagundi, verba buena, sambong, tsaang gubat, ampalaya, niyug-niyogan, bayabas, akapulko, ulasimang bato, and bawang. - BusinessWorld