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Google Accused of Bio-piracy

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the ahoy-maties-turn-over-those-ribonucleic-acids-if-you-please dept.

Simon Phillips writes "ZDNet is reporting that Google has been accused of being the 'biggest threat to genetic privacy' this year for its plan to create a searchable database of genetic information. From the article: 'Google was presented with an award as part of the Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy in Curitiba, Brazil, this week. The organisers allege that Google's collaboration with genomic research institute J. Craig Venter to create a searchable online database of all the genes on the planet is a clear example of biopiracy.'"

2 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. Re: need a new keyboard... again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You run your research lab based on facts from Google?

    The first thing you learn, is the internet is not a reliable source of research information. Have fun on the day you do that google for how much bentonite to put into the beaker, and find out the paper you got it from on the internet was only a draft, not peer reviewed, and had a decimal point in the wrong place.

  2. Re:Bio-piracy? Yes, Bio-piracy indeed. by kusanagi374 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Quite simple. Because those genes are taken from natively Brazilian plants and animals, used abroad for research then patented. So, if a local small industry decides they want to use that plant for something (a native plant) they must pay royalties to a corporation from a FOREIGN COUNTRY, usually a country where such plants/animals don't exist.

    That's what they classify as bio-piracy. Steal native elements from a country and patent them as a property of your corporation, then sell it back to that very country or charge for royalties.