Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
While some biobanks operate solely with national resources (e.g. the Icelandic
biobank described in
Chap. 5
), many store human tissue and DNA samples from
around the world.
2
In the area of plant resources, many seed banks have also been
set up to preserve biodiversity. For instance, the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew
Gardens in London, in collaboration with partners in 50 countries, aims to bank
25% of the world's wild plant species by 2020 (Kew n.d.).
It is within this context of global resource use, combined with claims about
exploitation (Shiva
1991
; Egziabher
1994
; Nijar
1996
; Srinivas
2008
: 86), that dis-
cussions of benefit sharing need to be framed. The established meaning of 'ben-
efit sharing' goes back to the adoption in 1992 of the international Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD), which aims to conserve biological diversity and facil-
itate its sustainable use through fair and equitable benefit sharing with resource
providers (CBD
1992
: article 1).
Today, the CBD has 193 parties and is considered a 'grand bargain', which
aligned the national and regional self-interests of developed and developing nations.
Developed nations focused on maintaining a high level of global biodiversity to pro-
tect ecological functions and to secure access to natural resources for future use.
Developing countries lobbied for sovereignty rights to counter exploitation, rights
which they secured for plants, animals, micro-organisms and related traditional knowl-
edge within their boundaries (Schroeder and Pisupati
2010
). Such natural resources
now fall squarely under national sovereignty rights, and can only be accessed after
prior informed consent has been obtained from providers on mutually agreed terms.
This topic starts with discussions about beneit sharing related to biodiversity,
but moves on to the as yet unresolved topic of benefit sharing in return for access
to human biological resources. Human biological resources are excluded from the
CBD, and no other legally binding international instrument regulates their man-
agement. The Declaration of Helsinki (WMA
2008
) requires that the benefits of
research be shared with clinical trial participants, and to a more limited degree with
human sample donors. This type of benefit sharing is reminiscent of CBD require-
ments in that those who provide a resource are seen to deserve something in return
(Schroeder
2007
). However, the Declaration of Helsinki is not legally binding, and
hardly any examples of successful benefit sharing exist in relation to its provisions.
In recent years, the term 'benefit sharing' has also been used in a much broader,
more aspirational sense (EC
2012
; see also Table
1.1
). This is linked to human
rights, for instance article 27(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
which proclaims that:
Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy
the arts and to
share in scientific advancement and its benefits
(UN 1948) (our emphasis).
The human right to share in the fruits of science is universal and does not
require any contribution to that scientific advancement. While we fully support
this universal human right, this topic mostly deals with the established, narrower
2
The American company Bioserve, for instance, holds samples from '120,000 patients on four
continents' (BioServe n.d.).
