For decades, scientists, pharmaceutical firms, cosmetics manufacturers, agricultural businesses and the biotech industry have turned out everyday products that consumers in Japan and other developed nations use without any second thoughts.
Many of these products, from cold medicines and drugs to toothpaste and makeup, were created using plants or organisms from places such as the tropical rain forests of Latin America and Southeast Asia.
They were taken without the knowledge or consent of the indigenous peoples who live there. Or the traditional oral knowledge of the uses of such plants was used for the basis of laboratory research that led to patented drugs, the profits of which were never returned to the people whose knowledge made their development possible.
Under the Nagoya Protocol, access to genetic resources shall be subject to prior informed consent by the party that provides such resources. In addition, parties to the protocol are required to take appropriate measures in accordance with their domestic laws to ensure prior, informed consent or approval and involvement of indigenous and local communities is obtained for access to those resources.
