Vaccination News Home Page

http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/325/7357/183/b

PDF of this article Email this article to a friend Respond to this article PubMed citation Related articles in PubMed Download to Citation Manager Search Medline for articles by: Johnson, O. Alert me when: New articles cite this article

Collections under which this article appears: Pharmacology and toxicology International health

BMJ 2002;325:183 ( 27 July )

News

Venezuelan project establishes indigenous plant database

Owain Johnson, Caracas

An innovative scheme designed to document and protect traditional indigenous knowledge in Venezuela could lead to the discovery of important new drugs, whose development would also financially benefit the communities that supplied the original.

The BioZulua project brings together data about medicinal plants and food crops provided by the 24 ethnic groups living in Venezuela's section of the Amazonian jungle. The information is collected by field researchers and stored in a searchable database administered from Caracas by the Foundation for the Development of Mathematics and Physical and Natural Sciences.

The contents of the database remain the intellectual property of the individual indigenous groups, and the Venezuelan government is exploring the possibility of raising money for the groups by charging international pharmaceutical companies for access to their knowledge. The foundation's director general, Dr Ramiro Royero, said the project is generating considerable international interest: "No pharmaceutical company has seen this material yet, but when two or three different groups from different areas are using the same plants to treat the same ailments, then it's obvious there's something in the plant that would be worth investigating."

Users of the BioZulua database can search by species, geographic location, ethnic group, or even by ailment. This means that companies interested in developing new herbal headache remedies, for example, could look at all the plants used by indigenous groups throughout the Venezuelan Amazon.

The Venezuelan authorities have received complaints from Amazonian communities about "bio-piracy" by commercial companies in recent years, and they hope the advantages of the BioZulua database will encourage interested companies to contact the project's administrators rather than approaching indigenous groups directly.

(Credit: ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY VASCULAR PLANT HERBARIUM)   Urera caracasana, indigenous to Venezuela

© BMJ 2002
 

PDF of this article Email this article to a friend Respond to this article PubMed citation Related articles in PubMed Download to Citation Manager Search Medline for articles by: Johnson, O. Alert me when: New articles cite this article

Collections under which this article appears: Pharmacology and toxicology International health

Vaccination News Home Page

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.