Biotechnology and its Applications — BIOLOGY STD 12 Science — Question

→ Biopiracy is the term used to refer to the use of bio-resources by multinational companies and other organisations without proper authorisation from the countries and people concerned without compensatory payment.
→ Most of the industrialised nations are rich financially but poor in biodiversity and traditional knowledge.
→ In contrast the developing and the underdeveloped world is rich in biodiversity and traditional knowledge related to bio-resources.
→ Traditional knowledge related to bio-resources can be exploited to develop modern applications and can also be used to save time, effort and expenditure during their commercialisation.
→ There has been growing realisation of the injustice, inadequate compensation and benefit sharing between developed and developing countries.
→ Therefore, some nations are developing laws to prevent such unauthorised exploitation of their bio-resources and traditional knowledge.
→ The Indian Parliament has recently cleared the second amendment of the Indian Patents Bill, that takes such issues into consideration, including patent terms, emergency provisions and research and development initiative.