Indians' Genetic Material Sold on Internet

BRAZIL :

Indians' Genetic Material Sold on Internet

Stephen Leahy and Mario Osava*

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 19 (Tierramérica)  - The Brazilian government has asked Interpol, the international police, to intervene in what it says is the illegal sale of genetic material from its indigenous peoples by a U.S. research centre.

Living cells from individual members of Karitiana and Suruí Indians, as well as other South and Central American indigenous groups, are available for 85 dollars, purchased through the Internet from the Coriell Cell Repositories, a division of Coriell Institute for Medical Research. ...

The Ticuna Indians' cells have been incorporated into a major tool for immunology research, and one the world's largest pharmaceutical corporations has used them to delve into the genetics of the human immune system, Albert notes in the journal ''Public Anthropology: Engaging Ideas 2001''.

Indigenous peoples "should be treated as fully-respected social partners, not as natural 'populations' for gene mining,'' Albert concludes.

(* Originally published Nov. 13 by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme.)

Full Story @

http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=26349

See also:

Tierramérica

http://www.tierramerica.net/english
Coriell Institute for Medical Research

http://coriell.umdnj.edu/
Coriell Cell Repositories - Human Variation Collections

http://locus.umdnj.edu/nigms/cells/humdiv.html
The ETC Group

http://www.etcgroup.org/

Bruce Albert - Public Anthropology: Engaging Ideas 2001

http://www.publicanthropology.org/Journals/Engaging-Ideas/Yanomami/Albert3.%0D%0Ahtm