Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge

An excellent overview of the emerging issues associated with our new-found ability to read and manipulate the genetic code. The issues described -- patenting of genes that make it illegal for traditional medicines to use their fount of knowledge, creation of hybrid species without understanding of the full ramifications and potential disaster, irreparable damage to natural biodiversity webs, outright theft of natural resources -- may have seem far-fetched and alarmist in 1997, but has become common 12 years later. A short, well-written book and a must-read to understand the basics of the issues.

Shiva takes on globalization and the overall anthropocentric view of the world's powers with an in depth look at how Intellectual Property Rights have been stripped from the commons into the hands of multinational governments and companies. Although the writing is sensational, the feelings run deep in the developing world. Acknowledgment of these feelings is an important step in the realization that the Western World has infringed on human rights and ecological balance. The conclusion that placing value in the diversity of cultures and in biodiversity can lead to a more peaceful world if IPR's are left out of private pockets should not be taken lightly.

Biopiracy by physicist, ecologist, and environmental activist Vandana Shiva is a harsh but perceptive survey and analysis of the expansion of population pressures on the environment, and more importantly, the technological advances which have been made and which seemingly have begun to dominate and shape life itself, as well as the process by which life is generated. A timely and critically important contribution to environmental policy discussions, Biopiracy is recommended as a sharp warning cry of alarm at where humanity's current tendency to pollute and put the dollar first can lead, as well as the damage that modern trends have down to traditional ways of life, -- especially among native peoples.

In "Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge" Vandana Shiva posits that the biotechnology industry of today is but a continuation of the piracy of Columbus, John Cabot and Walter Raleigh. Euphemistically called "discoveries" their exploitation legitimized piracy as the "natural right of the colonizer, necessary for the deliverance of the colonized."Shiva maintains that this system of exploitation, continuing under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, now treats "biopiracy" as a "natural right of Western corporations, necessary for the development of Third World communities." Shiva writes that Western capital is now seeking out new colonies, new properties - the interior spaces of women plants and animals - to invade and exploit. Shiva posits that to understand and fight against "biopiracy" is to resist "the ultimate colonization of life itself - a struggle to conserve both cultural and biological diversity."hBiopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledgeh is a fascinating and invaluable book that sheds much-needed light onto the controversies surrounding the ethics of biotechnology.

In Biopiracy, the Plunder of Nature and Knowledge, Vandana Shiva starts from the very reasonable premise that life forms, used for nutritional and medicinal purposes by native cultures for centuries, should not be patented by foreign multinational corporations as "new discoveries". In other words, this book is not for anyone who feels that it is okay to patent life forms which are modifications of already existing species. If you are interested in the problems with this approach and its political, economic, and moral implications, this book is necessary reading. Shiva exposes this exploitation of the intellectual and material wealth of the third world in the name of profits. Shiva's Monocultures of the Mind is also strongly recommended.