UN wants rules on bioprospecting in Antarctica

BBC News Online | 2 February 2004

ANTARCTICA'S RESOURCES 'AT RISK'

By Alex Kirby BBC News Online environment correspondent

Antarctic organisms face an onslaught by prospectors anxious to exploit their unique nature, the United Nations says.

The UN University says "extremophiles", creatures adapted to life in the polar wastes, are being relentlessly hunted in what is virtually a new gold rush.

A regulated search could uncover new drugs, industrial compounds and some commercial applications, the UN says.

It says the existing Antarctic Treaty System cannot adequately regulate the possible consequences to Antarctica.

The UN University's report, "The International Regime For Bioprospecting: Existing Policies And Emerging Issues For Antarctica", is published by its Institute of Advanced Studies, based in Tokyo, Japan.

SURVIVAL MYSTERIES

The publication comes a week before the start of a meeting on 9 February of the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The report says prospectors are now looking at hydrothermal vents, the bed of the deep sea, and the polar ice caps in their quest for promising organisms.

The "extremophiles" that live on these remote frontiers have evolved to survive in very cold, dry or salty conditions -- and they could hold immensely valuable secrets.

The report says the search to unlock those secrets could be a repeat of the 19th century's gold rush, a free-for-all to find and patent new cancer treatments, antibiotics and industrial products.

Dr A H Zakri, the institute's director, said: "Biological prospecting for extremophiles is already occurring and is certain to accelerate in Antarctica and the southern ocean.

"This report suggests that efforts to exploit this new frontier are now threatening to outpace the capacity of national and international law to regulate... ownership of genetic materials, the issuing of patents... and the potential environmental consequences of harvesting these resources."

One promising discovery is a glycoprotein which prevents Antarctic fish from freezing. It could help fish farmers, extend the shelf life of frozen food, improve surgery and tissue transplants, and make plants more tolerant of freezing.

Other Antarctic discoveries include an extract from green algae for use in cosmetic skin treatment, and anti-tumour properties in a strain of yeast.

The report says Antarctic bioprospecting so far has usually been the work of consortia of public and private bodies, like universities and pharmaceutical companies.

It says: "This has made it difficult to draw a clear line between scientific research and commercial activities."

NEW ERA OF COMPETITION

Sam Johnston, the report's co-author, says the Antarctic Treaty System, the main international agreement governing activity on the continent, does not specifically regulate bioprospecting.

He told BBC News Online: "The search for extremophiles threatens the hallmarks of Antarctic scientific research, its transparency and cooperation.

"We're not saying there's much danger of environmental damage, but it does pose a challenge.

"It's likely to inhibit scientists in the future, and companies will be less interested in working in the Antarctic because there won't be any clarity over who owns what."

© BBC MMIV

GOING FURTHER (compiled by GRAIN)

Ed Stoddard, "UN Wants Rules for Bioprospecting in Antarctica", Reuters, Johannesburg, 1 February 2004.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&s toryID=4257083

Dagmar Lohan and Sam Johnston, "The International Regime for Bioprospecting: Existing Policies and Emerging Issues for Antarctica", report prepared for United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies, Tokyo, August 2003, 26 pp.
http://www.ias.unu.edu/binaries/UNUIAS_AntarcticaReport.pdf
or download from:
http://www.ias.unu.edu/publications/details.cfm/ArticleID/4 31